OFC 2023: Defra to pay more for SFI and Countryside Stewardship

Farmers who sign up to the Sustainable Farming Incentive in England are to receive up to £1,000 each as a management payment, as Defra tries to attract more farmers into the scheme.

And in a further move to encourage the uptake of agri-environment measures, the budget for Countryside Stewardship (CS) is also being increased, with an average 10% more available for revenue agreements and 48% more for capital payments.

See also: Slow uptake of SFI blamed on low payments and lack of detail

The increases were announced by Defra farming minister Mark Spencer at today’s Oxford Farming Conference and are intended to help “drive uptake at a time of rising costs for farmers”.

“My challenge to our great industry is simple,” he said. “This year, take another look at the Environmental Land Management [ELM] schemes and think about what options and grants will help support your farm.  

“As custodians of more than 70% of our countryside, the nation is relying on its farmers to protect our landscapes, as well as produce the high-quality food we are known for.

“We are increasing payment rates to ensure farmers are not out of pocket for doing the right thing by the environment.”

Payments

On the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), the new management payment is worth £20/ha on the first 50ha of any application “to acknowledge the administrative costs of participation and to attract small-scale and tenant farmers who are currently under-represented in the scheme”.

Currently, the SFI offers three distinct “standards” – improved grassland soils, improved arable soils and a moorland standard. It has so far attracted almost 2,000 completed applications out of a potential 85,000 claimants.

Mr Spencer confirmed that the new £20/ha management payment would be backdated, to benefit those already in the scheme.

But he was unable to say what further SFI standards would be added for 2023, or how much they would be worth – other than to say “they will be published soon”.

Stewardship

On CS, the increased revenue payments will benefit both new and existing agreement holders by an average of 10%, starting from 1 January 2023, to help counter rising costs.

For example, rates for in-field grass strips – intended to attract pollinators into the middle of crops – will rise from £624/ha to £658/ha, while the rate for creating scrub goes up from £128/ha to £149/ha.

Greater increases are on offer for CS capital payments, including one-off grants for things such as hedgerow creation, which is almost doubling to £22.97/m.

The application window for new grants on the government website is now open.

Currently, there are about 32,000 live CS agreements in England, of which more than 11,000 relate to the management of hedgerows. These schemes will be “evolved” into the second tier of Defra’s ELM scheme.

Targets

Defra says that, taken together, these changes will mean more farmers taking individual actions to help meet the UK’s legally binding target to halt biodiversity loss by 2030.

But Tenant Farmers Association chief executive, George Dunn said it fell a long way short in terms of plugging the gaps left by cuts to Basic Payment Scheme monies and ramping up ELM to deliver for the environment and food security.

“Key elements remain shrouded in uncertainty,” he said. “Widening the franchise of Sustainable Farming Incentive remains promised, but undelivered – that is a disappointment.

“Adding 10% to Countryside Stewardship receipts will help with rising costs, but will not make the scheme the driving force for real change – which will only come if the rewards for delivering environmental and climate outcomes are truly commercial.”

NFU vice-president David Exwood agreed that the lack of clarity on all the ELM schemes and options left farmers and growers in a decision-making vacuum.

“It is hugely frustrating that nearly five years on from Defra’s Health and Harmony consultation, which set farming in England on a path towards public goods for public payments, we still only have three standards available for the SFI,” he said.

“It’s a sad reflection of the scheme’s progress and development that NFU members know more about what they will lose in direct payments than what they will gain from taking part in these new schemes.”