Despite initial concerns about the amount of productive farmland enrolled in the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) in England, recent data suggests these fears may be unfounded.
Earlier this year, AHDB highlighted the impact of large numbers of farmers taking up SFI and its potential effects on food production. As a result of concern in March, Defra minister Mark Spencer announced a limit to the area of land each farmer could turn to SFI.
On May 3, 2024, Defra released statistics indicating that of the 13,400 farms participating in SFI 2023, 81% had less than 10% of their land enrolled in actions that require land.
Only 2% of farms had more than 80% of their land in these actions. This aligns with conclusions analysis which showed that financially, these actions are only viable on unproductive or marginal areas.
Production modelling
AHDB modelled a 455ha virtual arable farm which was best suited to using 8% of its land in SFI actions, while the virtual beef and sheep farms looked optimal at 11-14% of their grassland involved.
On March 25, Defra announced a cap where land requiring SFI actions could not exceed 25% of a farm’s total farmland. Therefore, it is increasingly unlikely that large portions of farmland will be entered into these actions.
SFI aims to support farmers during difficult years but will provide less aid compared to the historic basic payment scheme.
As of April 1, 2024, there were 34,900 Country Stewardship (CS) agreements and 13,900 SFI 2023 agreements. Given the CS scheme’s longer establishment, this disparity is expected.
Farm businesses can participate in both SFI and CS, provided they do not carry out equivalent actions on the same land area.
Popular SFI Actions
The most popular SFI actions were those easily integrated into current farming systems and beneficial for crop rotations. Notably, legume fallow, winter cover crops, and herbal leys were preferred over their CS equivalents.
For instance, 175,000ha were entered into SFI herbal ley, compared to 84,700ha in the CS equivalent. Similarly, 124,000ha were entered for SFI winter cover crops, versus 70,700ha in the CS equivalent.
Although SFI and CS actions share similar aims and payment rates, they can differ in execution and any applicable restrictions.
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