Sustainable Farming Incentive
The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is the first of three schemes under the new Environmental Land Management scheme (ELMs). Information about how farmers will receive funding to produce public goods, such as a water quality, biodiversity, animal health and welfare and climate change mitigation have now become available. However, as the scheme proceeds, further standards and improvements to the content and ambition levels are expected.
The initial SFI offer is set to enhance the natural health and fertility of soils, contribute to UK agriculture reaching Net Zero and understand how best to invest in restoration of moorlands through sustainable farming practices.
With the SFI set to launch in 2022, a start date is yet to be announced but payments will be quarterly with the first one expected by the end of the 2022. The application process will consist of a 10-week window.
- If you are under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), you are eligible for SFI.
- You must have full management control of the land for the duration of the 3-year agreement.
- Tenant farmers must check they have sufficient management control to fulfill their SFI agreement under the terms of their tenancy agreement. Landlord permission is not required.
- Farmers with less than 2 years left on tenanted land should not enter.
- Land must be in England. Cross-border land parcels will not be eligible.
- SFI will operate on a land parcel basis, meaning as little or as many fields can be entered, with no minimum or maximum amount of land that can be entered.
- If a field is part arable, part woodland, only the arable portion would be eligible for the arable soil standard.
- If part of a field is in a Countryside Stewardship agreement, that part of the field would not be eligible if the measures were overlapping, meaning you cannot be paid twice for the same actions.
- Land in a private sector scheme is eligible.
SFI agreements will last for 3 years, with the flexibility to amend an agreement every 12 months from their start date. This means land coverage and ambitions can be increased after 12 months so additional standards introduced can be incorporated. This also provides an opportunity for farmers new to agri-environmental schemes to trial sections of land in the scheme and re-assess after 12 months. Ambition or coverage will only be permitted to reduce in exceptional circumstances.
Payment rates and standards will stay the same for the full 3-year agreement, with the flexibility to be adjusted after the initial 3-year period based on what is learnt during the initial SFI rollout.
| Arable and Horticultural Soils Standard | |
| Introductory Level £22/ha | Intermediate Level £40/ha |
| · Test soil organic matter. | · Test soil organic matter. |
| · Undertake a soil assessment and produce a soil management plan. | · Undertake a soil assessment and produce a soil management plan. |
| · 70% winter cover (Dec-Feb) which can include any green cover, autumn sown crops, weedy stubbles. | · 70% winter cover (Dec-Feb) which must include multi-species green cover, covering at least 20% of total land in this level of the standard. |
| · Addition of organic matter (organic matter must be applied to one third of the land each year). | · Addition of organic matter (organic matter must be applied to one third of the land each year) and will include multi-species green cover grown under the cover crop requirement above, with the rest as the introductory level. |
The advanced level for the Arable and Horticultural Soils will be introduced for this standard from 2023 onwards and is likely to include no-tillage techniques.
| Improved Grassland Soils Standard | |
| Introductory Level£28/ha | Intermediate Level £58/ha |
| · Test soil organic matter. | · Test soil organic matter. |
| · Undertake a soil assessment and produce a soil management plan. | · Undertake a soil assessment and produce a soil management plan. |
| · 95% green cover to protect soil (no more than 5% bare ground over winter). | · 95% green cover to protect soil (no more than 5% bare ground over winter). |
| · Establish or maintain herbal leys to improve soil health on at least 15% of land in this standard. | |
The advanced level for Improved Grassland Soils will be introduced for this standard from 2023 onwards.
The Moorland and Rough Grazing Standard has not yet been finalised. The introductory standard will require farmers to undertake actions to assess the range of habitat and features present on their individual moorlands. Indicative payments of £148 fixed per agreement per year in addition to a variable payment rate of £6.45 per hectare. The intermediate and advanced levels will follow later in the SFI rollout.
The Annual Health and Welfare Review is designed to reduce endemic diseases and conditions within livestock, promote responsible use of veterinary medicines, improve welfare and increase farm productivity and build on the relationships between farmers and vets. Expected from Spring 2022, SFI will fund an annual farm visit from a vet. Farmers who are keepers of more than either 50 pigs, 20 sheep or 10 cattle and are currently receiving BPS will be eligible for this SFI standard.
If you would like to discuss this in further detail, please do not hesitate to contact us.