DEFRA have recently announced the opening of applications for SFI in 2023, with the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) accepting expressions of interest from 30 August, and inviting first application for SFI from 18 September, albeit still with a staged roll-out by invitation.
Tom Arthey said: “It is positive that SFI 2023 is now open for expression of interest and invitations to apply, and after some delays in its re-launch, SFI does now provide a variety of options for farmers to enhance the environmental benefits on their farm, and earn additional income for doing so”.
As a reminder, the SFI is a scheme designed to reward farmers and landowners for activities that support food production, farm productivity and resilience, whilst protecting and enhancing the local environment, in line with the government’s trajectory to pay ‘public money for public good’ and ringfenced under the £2.4billion annual farming budget, guaranteed for the lifetime of this parliament.
Tom continued: “There are 23 actions on offer under the 2023 scheme, including on soil health, hedgerows, integrated pest management, farmland wildlife, buffer strips, and low input grassland, that we at Arthey Associates believe can be incorporated into management plans to make good use of low-productivity areas of the farm. You can also still be in a Countryside Stewardship scheme at the same time, so long as the actions are compatible and there is no duplication of payment for the same action.
“We caution against taking profitable areas of the farm out of production, but most farms have, for example, unproductive corners or headlands of a field that may lend itself to one of the 23 actions available under SFI. Furthermore, some of the actions may be suitable as a tool to enhance and widen rotations of a farms arable system, with other knock-on benefits as well. We would urge farmers to seriously consider what additional benefits SFI could bring now, and not to sit back and see how it unfolds in the future. One of the key things in SFI is that it seems to offer additional flexibility to expand ‘ambition’ year-on-year, but you have to be in it to be able to do that.”
The full list of 23 SFI actions available are listed in the handbook published on the DEFRA website in June 2023, to help farmers plan what may suit their farm and circumstances.
“Also new for 2023 is a change in how and when the SFI is paid. Unlike existing and previous schemes where farmers have had to wait until the end of the first year of their agreement to receive any payment, payments under SFI 2023 will be paid quarterly, after receiving feedback from farmers that cashflow constraints may have hampered the adoption of SFI to date.”
Please get in touch with Tom (07748 295448) or one of the team in the office (01832 270269) or email tom@artheyassociates.co.uk
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