Monday, 15 March 2021

Will you be a Sustainable Farming Incentive Pioneer?

Details of the pilot of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), which aims to reward farmers and land managers in England for sustainable farming practices, have been published by DEFRA.

This incentive marks a step change and is the most significant change to agricultural policy in generations. The SFI is the first of three schemes, delivered through the Environmental Land Management schemes, to be piloted and co-designed.

CLA President Mark Bridgeman said:

“With the first cuts in BPS taking effect this year, and businesses set to lose at least 50% of their payments by 2024, the SFI will provide an essential funding bridge for many farmers and contribute to more environmental farming practices.”

Farmers are being encouraged to take part in the pilot, which opens TODAY, Monday 15th March 2021.

DEFRA want their initial group of several hundred pilot farmers to come from a range of farm types from across England.

“We need participants who have the capacity (on top of everything else they are doing) to commit to specific learning activities and provide timely, regular and comprehensive feedback on the pilot version of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme.”

Significant testing of the individual components of the scheme have already been trialled, and DEFRA are now ready to pilot the scheme in its totality.

For the first phase of piloting, a farmer is only eligible if they:

• are a recipient of the Basic Payments Scheme, registered on the Rural Payments Agency system
• enter land parcels (for example, fields) into the pilot that do not have an existing agri-environment agreement on them
• have management control of the land for the duration of the pilot (scheduled to run until late 2024). They must either own the land with management control or have a tenancy of enough length to implement their pilot agreement (including landlord’s permission if required)
• enter land parcels that are in England
• enter land parcels that are not registered common land or shared grazings

We thoroughly endorse the pilot scheme and encourage any farming clients who feeel that they fit the criteria above to get involved.

If you feel you are able to support the pilot scheme, but wish to first discuss this with one of our team, please call your local office or known surveyor. If you are not a H&H client, but would still like to discuss the options available to you and for independent advice, please call Jennifer Whitton at our Towcester office or Paul Lees at our Ashby office.

• Ashby – 01530 877977
• Atherstone – 01827 721380
• Rugby – 01788 564680
• Towcester – 01327 397979