top of page

Sustainable Farming Incentive

luke3757

DEFRA have now announced 6 further Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) Standards which will be available from summer 2023 providing further grant funding options to landowners.

The overarching principles of the scheme are:

• improved water quality • biodiversity • climate change mitigation • animal health and welfare


The SFI is a 3 year scheme which provides payments to landowners for achieving different standards and providing environmental benefits. The scheme opened in Autumn 2022 with an initial offering of 3 standards, Arable Soils, Improved Grassland Soils and Moorland Standard. SFI is a more flexible arrangement than its predecessor (Countryside Stewardship). It will be possible to add additional standards or land throughout the agreement.


The new standards will include the following: - Hedgerows Standard - Arable & Horticultural Standard - Improved Grassland Standard - Low/No Input Grassland Standard - Nutrient Management Standard - Integrated Pest Management Standard

The RPA are also introducing a new (SFI) Management Payment of £20 per hectare, for up to 50 hectares of land entered in the scheme. This means landowners will receive up to £1,000 per year in addition to their agreement to cover the administrative costs of participation.


More standards will be introduced, in the future. You’ll be able to add these to your agreement, as well as increase levels and add land if you wish. The agreement can be updated every 12 months.


As part of the SFI owners of livestock can apply for the annual health and welfare review. The funding is for a vet to visit your farm and carry out an annual review of your eligible livestock. You can choose which vet to use, with the aim of improving the welfare of animals and increase productivity. This could be a good opportunity to get an external vet to have a look at your livestock, opposed to your farm vet checking their own work.

The payment rates are as follows: • £684 for a pig review • £436 for a sheep review • £522 for a beef cattle review • £372 for a dairy cattle review

Further development on the animal health and welfare grant will be available in the coming months.

If you have any queries about the scheme then please do not hesitate to get in touch.


Mobile: 07857 877925 Email: Luke@banks-surveyors.co.uk

13 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


© 2035 by Site Name. Powered and secured by Wix

bottom of page