CLIG3: Manage grassland with very low nutrient inputs
What you must do to get paid for this action and advice on how to do it.
This is an action in the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme: expanded offer for 2024. You must read the SFI scheme information to understand the scheme rules and how to apply.
Duration
3 years
How much you’ll be paid
£151 per hectare (ha) per year
Action’s aim
This action’s aim is that there’s grassland which produces a sward with:
- flowering grasses and wildflowers from late spring and during the summer months
- a variety of plant heights by autumn
- some covering of flowering grasses and wildflowers left to go to seed
- tussocky grass allowed to develop
The purpose of this is to:
- provide nectar and shelter for invertebrates and a food supply for farmland birds
- support an integrated pest management approach if located close to cropped areas
- minimise nutrients being carried in surface water runoff to watercourses
Where you can do this action
You can do this action on agricultural land located below the moorland line that’s:
- an eligible land type (read section 5.1 ‘Eligible land types for SFI’)
- registered with an eligible land cover on your digital maps
- declared with a land use code which is compatible with the eligible land cover
Eligible land
| Eligible land type | Eligible land cover | Compatible land use code |
|---|---|---|
| Temporary grassland | Arable land | TG01 |
| Improved and low input permanent grassland | Permanent grassland | PG01 |
Eligibility of protected land
| Land or features with protection | Eligibility |
|---|---|
| Sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) | Eligible – you must get SSSI consent before you do this action (read section 5.5 ‘Land that’s a site of special scientific interest (SSSI)’) |
| Historic and archaeological features | Eligible – you must get a HEFER before you do this action (read section 5.6 ‘Land with historic or archaeological features’) |
Available area you can enter into this action
Total available area in a land parcel, apart from if CIGL1 (take grassland field corners or blocks out of management) is located in the same land parcel. In this case CLIG3 can be on part of the available area.
Rotational or static action
This action is static. This means you must do it at the same location each year of this action’s duration.
What to do
You must minimise the use of nutrient inputs on the grassland entered into this action by applying no more than either:
- 12 tonnes per ha of cattle farmyard manure
- equivalent amounts of available nutrients as fertiliser or in other organic manures as an alternative to cattle farmyard manure
You must also do the following on the grassland:
- graze it with livestock or cut it in a way that can reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim
- minimise bare ground, so the soil is covered by vegetation and is not directly exposed to the elements
There must be an intact grass sward throughout the year, without compacted areas or poaching. You can carry out supplementary feeding of livestock on the grassland, but you must make sure this does not cause poaching.
You must not do the following on the grassland:
- apply digestate or any other industrial by-product, including paper waste
- carry out mechanical activities, including hay and silage cutting, in a way that may disturb breeding birds or damage nests
- carry out drainage works
- plough, cultivate or re-seed it
- apply pesticides, except for herbicides to weed wipe or spot treat to control injurious weeds, invasive non-native species, nettles or bracken
- allow areas of scrub to develop on land with historic or archaeological features
If you will cut the grassland for conserved forage, you must:
- not graze or cut it for a continuous period of at least 7 weeks during the spring and summer months before taking the forage cut, to allow the sward to develop flowering grasses and wildflowers
- in each land parcel, leave an uncut margin around the edge of the area entered into this action when it’s cut for conserved forage, to help provide shelter for invertebrates
After you’ve cut the area for conserved forage, you must manage it in a way that can reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim.
If you’re already managing grassland with very low nutrient inputs, you can use it to get paid for this action if it:
- meets this action’s requirements
- is not already being paid for under another environmental land management scheme agreement option, such as Countryside Stewardship (CS) option GS2 (permanent grassland with very low inputs (outside SDAs)) or GS5 (permanent grassland with very low inputs (SDAs))
When to do it
You must do this action each year of its 3-year duration.
How to do it
It’s up to you how you do this action, as long as you:
- follow this action’s requirements – these are identified by a ‘must’
- do the action in a way that could reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim
Advice to help you do this action will be published before applications are fully launched from summer 2024. It will not be part of this action’s requirements.
Evidence to keep
You must keep evidence to show what you’ve done to complete this action, such as:
- field operations at a land parcel level and associated invoices
- photographs or other documentation
If it’s not clear that you’ve done this action in a way that could reasonably be expected to achieve its aim, we may ask for this evidence. You must supply the evidence if we ask for it.
Other actions or options you can do with this action
You can do the following actions or options on the same area in a land parcel as this action. Some actions or options can only be done on the same area if they’re done at a different time of year to this action. For example, winter cover followed by a summer companion crop. Read ‘What to do’ and ‘When to do it’ to find out when this action must be done.
| Scheme | Action or option codes |
|---|---|
| SFI 2024 actions | OFC1, OFC2, OFM1, OFM2, AGF1, AGF2, PRF1, PRF2, CIPM1, CNUM1, CSAM1 |
| SFI 2023 actions | IPM1, NUM1, SAM1 |
| CS options | SW15, SW16, OR1, OR2, OT1, OT2 |
| ES options | No ES revenue options |
| SFI pilot standards | No area-based SFI pilot standards |
If an action or option cannot be located on the same area, you may be able to do it on a different area in the same land parcel. Read section 6 ‘Eligible land in other funding schemes’ for more information.
You can do the following actions or options on the eligible boundaries of a land parcel entered into this action:
- SFI 2024 actions: CHRW1, CHRW2, CHRW3, BND1, BND2 and WBD2
- SFI 2023 actions: HRW1, HRW2, HRW3
- CS option BE3 (management of hedgerows)
- the introductory level of the SFI pilot hedgerows standard