Agriculture has and always will be the foundation of civilisation. However humanity has done so much damage in the last 10,000 years through deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels.

Some soil carbon levels have degraded by as much as 80% from original levels. Basically, we as farmers have emptied the bank account.

See also: Industry welcomes SFI expansion, but food production fears remain

About the author

Tim Parton

Tim Parton manages 300ha in South Staffordshire growing winter wheat, OSR, spring barley, beans, oats, lupins and wild flowers as part of a biological farming system. He grows cover crops and grass for haylage across sandy clay loam soils.

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I have always been a fan of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) because of all the good that can be achieved by implementing it on farms.

However, the issue I have is the encouragement to not farm. As many of you will know I am very passionate about soil health and the benefits of what a summer fallow can achieve are obvious, and I would back it where needed. 

Care must be taken though, so that you don’t overload your soil with carbon, creating another problem as your soil just cannot cope with such volumes. This is something I have seen often.

The other issue I have with so much land currently being taken out of production is that in doing so, we are robbing the food and resources of another country and then giving ourselves a pat on the back, telling ourselves how green we are while the indigenous people suffer.

There is no mention of the carbon footprint created in getting the food to us, which to me is a total oxymoron. We can improve our soil and planet health while still producing our own food.

Another disappointment is that the SFI application platform is not up to speed. 

We cannot incorporate some of the key features, such as being able to follow a cover crop under mid-tier with a companion spring crop. I do have a cover crop under SFI, so I can have a companion crop.

This discrepancy needs to be rectified. I have also had problems implementing no insecticides where I have had pollen and nectar margins, along with other similar challenges.

I really hope these issues can be addressed moving forward as, in my opinion, it degrades the whole programme.