Funding for farmers to take BASIS and FACTS advice as Defra unveils new SFI standards
Significant payments will be offered to farmers for taking qualified advice on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and nutrient management from this year, the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) has revealed under its revised Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme.
Speaking in the House of Commons this morning (26 January), Farming Minister Mark Spencer MP announced a new set of standards for SFI 2023, alongside a prospectus detailing how the scheme will be run from now on, including the interaction between SFI and Countryside Stewardship.
The long-awaited update to SFI has been welcomed by AIC, the UK's agri-supply trade association, which has been working with Defra on the plans for several years as part of an industry stakeholder working group.
Originally launched in June 2022, SFI pays farmers to undertake sustainable management actions which go beyond regulatory requirements, alongside productive farming.
Advice incentives
The new standards will see farmers paid £989/year to take BASIS-qualified advice on IPM, which is the top payment of the newly-released standards available under the 2023 scheme.
Getting a nutrient management assessment and report from a FACTS-qualified advisor will qualify farmers for £589/year under the agreement. See the below summary of key points for further details.
Mr Spencer also announced that the second round of Defra's Landscape Recovery initiative would be launched in spring 2023.
Further detailed guidance on actions included in SFI and Countryside Stewardship will be published in due course, he added.
Years of work
Andrew Pearson, AIC's Environmental Policy Manager, said: "We welcome today's announcement on SFI from the Government, which is the product of a number of years of input from AIC and other industry stakeholders."
"It is particularly welcome that by taking BASIS-qualified advice on IPM, farmers will get almost £3,000 over the course of their three-year SFI agreement."
"Meanwhile, taking FACTS-qualified advice on nutrition management will qualify farmers for a payment of almost £600 a year."
SFI 2023 - key points
The six new SFI standards Defra will introduce in 2023 are:
- IPM standard - farmers will be paid to take BASIS-qualified advice to carry out an assessment and produce an integrated pest management plan, with extra payments available for not using insecticides and for planting companion crops.
- Nutrient management standard – farmers will be paid to take FACTS-qualified advice to carry out an assessment and produce a report of their management of nutrients, helping to encourage them to understand how they are managing nutrients and to take further action to deliver environmental benefits (e.g. optimise the use of fertilisers to limit excess nutrients flowing into watercourses) as well as maximising the use of two legume options in this standard.
- Hedgerows standard - farmers will be paid to assess the condition of hedgerows and manage them in a way that will work for wildlife and improve biodiversity.
- Improved grassland standard - farmers will be paid for actions such as taking grassland out of management, managing grassland for winter bird food and establishing and maintaining buffer strips at the edge of fields – helping wildlife and biodiversity.
- Low input grassland standard - farmers will be paid to manage low input grassland to improve biodiversity, soil management and water quality.
- Arable and horticultural land standard - farmers will be paid for actions including establishing and maintaining areas of nectar-rich flower mix; establishing and maintaining flower-rich grass margins, blocks, or in-field strips; providing winter bird food; establishing and maintaining grassy field corners and blocks; and establishing and maintaining buffer strips.
These are in addition to the actions included in the three existing standards launched in 2022 (see below) and approximately 250 options that will be familiar to many that have been involved with Countryside Stewardship:
- Arable and horticultural soils standard (introductory and intermediate levels)
- Improved grassland soils standard (introductory and intermediate levels)
- Moorland standard (introductory level)
Visit the GOV.UK website for full details. Watch the video below for further information.
Authors
Oli Hill
As Head of Communications, Oli creates and oversees the content published on AIC's website, emails, Member briefings, print publications, and social media. A qualified multimedia journalist, he previously spent six years working at Farmers Weekly magazine as a Senior Reporter on the arable team, and latterly as Community Editor. More recently he was Communications Manager at Red Tractor.
