Sustainable Farming Incentive: Defra’s plans for piloting and launching the scheme

Question 1

Foreword from Secretary of State

Accepted Answer

Next year, all those who currently receive payments under the Basic Payments Scheme will be able to apply for the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

We want our new schemes to help farmers access the money and the advice they need to be effective and ambitious – to encourage environmental land management – so we are building on our work in Tests and Trials with thousands of farmers since 2018 as we move ahead with our other two schemes as well.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive will allow farmers to take a fresh look at the land they farm, the natural assets that they have and decide what will work best for their own individual holding. It will recognise the value of some of the natural assets that were dubbed ‘ineligible features’ by the CAP.

We want the Sustainable Farming Incentive to reflect a fundamental reset in our approach to checking compliance and monitoring agreements. We will focus on outcomes and improvement, rather than penalising shortcomings.

In the years ahead, we will expand the Sustainable Farming Incentive as we apply our learning and more funding becomes available. We will build on an initial set of standards and join up our approach as we take the first steps on a new animal health and welfare pathway.

The ethos at the heart of our future policy is to support the choices of individual farm enterprises. I am committed to working with farmers to ensure that we get our future policy right – and the Sustainable Farming Incentive is the first step.

Question 2

Introduction

Accepted Answer

In March 2021, Defra will begin the process of getting several hundred farmers involved in the first phase of piloting the Sustainable Farming Incentive. Then, in 2022 we will start to roll out the scheme – which will initially be available to Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) recipients. We will extend and expand the scheme over time as we work with farmers to learn what works best in practice.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive is one of three new schemes, alongside the future Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery schemes, both of which we will begin piloting next year. These schemes will operate together and pay for sustainable farming practices, improve animal health and welfare, improve environmental outcomes, and reduce carbon emissions. They will create habitats for nature recovery and make landscape-scale changes such as establishing new woodland and other ecosystem services, providing key means to deliver against our 25 Year Environment Plan goals and carbon net zero targets.

The piloting and implementation of the three future schemes will be funded by gradual reductions in BPS payments from 2021 to 2027. These subsidies, a legacy of the EU Common Agricultural Policy, are paid largely according to how much land a farmer has, rather than how much public benefit they are producing. The government is committed to redirecting this funding to increase sustainability in the farming sector. We want farm businesses, and other land managers including foresters, to become more productive while delivering additional benefits for the environment.

This is the biggest change in agricultural policy in half a century. We must make sure that our policies and systems are right for the farmers of today, and tomorrow. Over the last century, much of our wildlife-rich habitat has been lost, and many species are in long-term decline. We know that many farmers feel this loss keenly and are taking measures to reverse this decline. The three future schemes will underpin and greatly extend such measures by providing an attractive offer that rewards farmers for producing environmental goods.

We are committed to building the future schemes through a process of ‘co-design’. Among other things, this will involve piloting all three schemes – , working with farmers, foresters and other land managers. We will identify opportunities and problems – making sure the schemes work in practice and deliver for the environment.

Our pilots will build on the great success of our ongoing programme of tests and trials, which already involves well over 3000 farmers and other land managers.

The future schemes

Through the three future schemes, we will make a significant contribution to the following six goals of the 25 Year Environment Plan:

clean air
clean and plentiful water
thriving plants and wildlife
reduced risk of harm from environmental hazards such as flooding and drought
enhanced beauty, heritage and engagement with the natural environment
mitigating and adapting to climate change

Our schemes will also contribute to our carbon net zero targets.

Sustainable Farming Incentive

This scheme will apply to farmers. It will pay them for actions they take (going beyond regulatory requirements) to manage their land in an environmentally sustainable way. Actions will be grouped into simple packages set out as standards, to make it as easy as possible for farmers to identify those actions that are best suited to their land and their business. The Sustainable Farming Incentive will be open to all farmers, but initially it will only be open to BPS recipients. Our aim is to make it attractive and straightforward for everyone to take part, including the many farmers who are not currently in an agri-environment scheme.

Local Nature Recovery

This scheme will pay for actions that support local nature recovery and deliver local environmental priorities – making sure the right things are delivered in the right places. The scheme will encourage collaboration between farmers, helping them work together to improve their local environment. This scheme may be competitive.

Landscape Recovery

This scheme will support the delivery of landscape and ecosystem recovery through long-term, land use change projects. This includes projects to restore wilder landscapes in places where that is appropriate, large-scale tree planting, peatland and salt marsh restoration projects. These projects can deliver a wide variety of environmental outcomes and support local environmental priorities, while making an important contribution to national carbon net zero targets. We expect that this scheme will be competitive.

More detail on the future schemes is set out in Defra’s Agricultural Transition Plan and in the Farming is Changing booklet, published in November 2020.

Tackling climate change

In addition to benefiting wildlife and the environment, the future schemes will also help our farmers, foresters and other land managers play a crucial role in the national effort to tackle climate change, through reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing carbon storage.

Our understanding of how much carbon the new schemes might save will deepen as they develop, but it is expected to be significant.

For example, looking only at hedgerow management under the Sustainable Farming Incentive:

the scheme will help to protect and enhance the estimated 9 million tonnes of carbon already stored in England’s hedgerows
initial projections indicate potential additional carbon savings of up to 100,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent over the CB4 period (the fourth carbon budget period under the Climate Change Act, from 2023 to 2027). This rises to up to 300,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent over the CB5 period (2028 to 2032)
these additional savings are roughly equivalent to taking up to 40,000 cars off the road between 2023 and 2027, and up to 130,000 cars off the road between 2028 and 2032

Hedgerow management is just one part of the Sustainable Farming Incentive. The scheme will also include many other actions to encourage carbon-friendly farming, for example through soil management.

The Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery schemes will make further carbon savings, including through peatland management/restoration and tree planting.

Focus of this communication

This communication focuses on piloting the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme, which is part of the environmental land management national pilot financed under section 1 of the Agriculture Act 2020 and will be the first pilot scheme to launch. It will be followed by pilots of the Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery schemes. More detail is given in the section on piloting of the future schemes.

The initial payment rates for the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot are set out below. These payments are a starting position only, and work is underway to develop updated rates for the roll-out of the scheme from next year.

Question 3

Rolling out the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme

Accepted Answer

The Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme will be launched in mid-2022. Initially it will be open to farmers who currently receive payments under the BPS. Over time, we intend to open up the scheme, so that it is both accessible and applicable to a broader range of farmers.

The scheme will give farmers an opportunity to secure a complementary income stream to their farm business by undertaking sustainable farming actions that benefit the wider environment.

The scheme will expand over time. It will start with a core set of sustainable farming actions, which will build incrementally as we apply our learning and more funding becomes available. It will also evolve to deliver continued progress against our climate and environmental priorities and reflect any changes to the regulatory baseline.

We will release further information to farmers in summer 2021, ahead of the scheme launch in 2022.

Learning from roll-out of the new scheme

In rolling out the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme, we plan to learn on the job – working with farmers to evolve and improve the scheme.

Learning from the early roll-out of the full scheme will allow us to find out what works and what does not with a large part of the whole farming community. This learning and improvement approach will continue beyond the pilot and early roll-out, to become a feature of all our future schemes.

Role of tests, trials and piloting

In addition, we will continue more focused learning activities. Since 2018, we have been engaged in tests and trials to explore ideas and approaches with farmers. These have given us valuable insights, which have helped shape our approach to scheme design and implementation.

From October 2021, we will pilot some of what will be included in the full Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme offer.

The main difference between ‘tests and trials’ and ‘piloting’ is that tests and trials focus on potential individual parts of the future scheme, whereas piloting will test a pilot version of the scheme from start to finish. By analogy, a manufacturer designing a new car might test things like the brakes and gear box separately (tests and trials), before combining them into a driveable car for road testing (piloting).

The image below shows how the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme will be rolled out between 2021 and 2028.

Concept testing will run from 2021 to mid-2022, when the SFI scheme launches. Launch and early expansion will run from mid-2022 to late 2024. From late 2024 to 2028 and onwards the scheme will be fully expanded.

Throughout concept testing, launch and early expansion there will be tests, trials and piloting to test specific aspects of SFI. Learning from the roll-out and implementation will begin from launch.

This diagram focusses on roll-out of the Sustainable Farming Incentive. It does not show timelines for piloting and rolling out the Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery schemes (see section on piloting of the future schemes below for more information).

Tests, trials and piloting give us a space in which to try out new ideas, to see if they are suitable for the full scheme. They also allow us to undertake deeper and more focused testing, to make sure all features work as intended without any unintended consequences. For example, they will allow us to test:

the suitability of potential land management actions and simplified processes with smaller groups of farmers – to make sure they are suitable for a range of different farm types, farming methods and landscape features
new approaches to advice and guidance – checking that scheme monitoring and compliance supports participants to provide sustainable environmental benefits that can be implemented in combination with sustainable food production and other commercial operations
how to use land management plans to maximise benefits for farmers

Roll-out of Sustainable Farming Incentive – learning and improvement

Stage	Concept testing (2021 to 2024)	Launch and early expansion (from 2022)	Full expansion of scheme (from 2024)
Participation	Starting with several hundred farmers	Open to all farmers eligible for BPS payments (c.88,000)	Open to all farmers
Learning approach	Piloting starts in October 2021 to test all the key features of the scheme We will learn, adjust, improve	As we operate the scheme at scale from mid-2022, we will continue learning and making adjustments We will focus on ease of access and simplification We will continue working with farmers to pilot specific aspects of the scheme	Piloting will end in late 2024, but we will continue to learn from full operation of scheme and make adjustments were necessary
Tests and trials	Continuing to use tests and trials to run short-term experiments to explore new ideas and concepts	We may use test and trials to run shorter experiments to explore new ideas and concepts	We may use test and trials to run shorter experiments to explore new ideas and concepts

The main groups involved in piloting will be:

farmers and land managers, who will be at the heart of learning. There will be a strong emphasis on keeping it simple and getting the basics right. We want a scheme that makes sense and is attractive, giving farmers and land managers space to produce public goods in ways that works for them and the environment.
pilot scheme administrators from the Rural Payments Agency, who will refine and simplify systems and processes
advisers – for example, if they are hired by participants to help plan and implement Sustainable Farming Incentive activities
stakeholders – for example, groups representing the farming and environment sectors

Question 4

Main features of the pilot

Accepted Answer

Do not base an application on information in this document. Since its publication, some of the information about eligibility, standards and payments has been updated. For the latest guidance, check the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot guidance collection.

Starting cautiously and building up

The first phase of piloting is not about testing an already-decided scheme with a group of farmers. Instead, it is about piloting as much as possible of what we think the full scheme could look like. We will do this by working intensively with farmers.

This pilot version will be a mix of existing and new. It will have many new policy elements (explained below) but there will also be familiar elements. For example, we will be re-using and adapting many of the current systems used to operate schemes like BPS and Countryside Stewardship. This will provide a starting point for system improvements but will not limit our ambitions for the new scheme to be simpler.

As we roll out the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme, we will iterate and improve as we go – learning both from the piloting and the roll-out itself. This could include ‘turning off’ some features if we find that they do not work in the real world. It will also include adding new approaches and improvements as they are developed and tested.

Land management actions

In the first phase of piloting, participants will be able to select from an initial set of eight standards to build their own agreements. These standards will help farmers to create greener landscapes and improve biodiversity. They will promote cleaner air and water, and guard against environmental risks such as climate change and flooding. This marks a further important step towards achieving our 25 Year Environment Plan ambitions and our carbon net zero goals.

The standards will be ‘asset-based’, which means they will be based on specific features such as grassland, hedgerows, water bodies, or woodland. Participants can choose which standards they want to do, and whether to apply them to all relevant land on their farm or only some of it. For example, the arable and horticultural land standard could be applied to all arable fields on a farm, or only some of them.

The initial eight standards we plan to take into the pilot are:

arable and horticultural land standard
arable and horticultural soils standard
improved grassland standard
improved grassland soils standard
low and no input grassland standard
hedgerow standard
on farm woodland standard
waterbody buffering standard

As the pilot progresses, more standards will be developed and introduced, increasing the number of asset types covered.

Each standard has been developed based on evidence and practical experience of delivering environmental benefits. Payments will be based on the actions contained within each standard being delivered in combination.

Where appropriate, more than one standard can be applied to the same area of land. For example, the arable and horticultural land standard and the arable and horticultural soils standard could be applied on the same field. The hedgerow standard could be applied to manage hedges around that field. Guidance will be provided to make sure that activities in different standards do not conflict.

Within each standard there are three levels for participants to choose from – introductory, intermediate and advanced. Each level is more challenging, and more rewarding, than the previous level and delivers greater environmental benefits.

Participants can select a different level for different standards to develop an agreement which works for their business. For example, an applicant may decide to do the intermediate level hedgerow standard and the introductory level waterbody buffering standard. The only exception to this model is the on-farm woodland standard, which is set as a single level.

Pilot participants will select one level per standard. For example, a participant could choose to do the Intermediate level of the hedgerow standard, and this would need to be applied across all the hedgerows they have chosen to put into their pilot agreement.

All levels, including the introductory level, operate above regulatory requirements. In other words, none of the standards would pay for things that are minimum expectations required by law.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme is intended to reward farmers for delivering environmental benefits across all farming systems, including organic farms. Through the pilot, we will work with farmers to ensure the standards are applicable across all systems, recognise existing good practice and that there are no unintended barriers to participation. During the pilot, we will also be considering the role accreditation schemes could play in supporting the delivery of environmental benefits we want to achieve under the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

More detail on the initial eight standards and associated payments is in Annex 1.

Guidance

Farmers will have access to simple written guidance on how to navigate the scheme (for example, making an application). Guidance on how to carry out land management actions, along with indications of what success looks like, will also be available to support farmers.

Guidance will be published on the GOV.UK website before applications for the pilot open in mid-2021. The guidance will be progressively expanded and refined using feedback from farmers, stakeholders and advisers.

Advice

We intend that the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme will be sufficiently straightforward for farmers to make applications and implement agreements, using guidance that will be available on GOV.UK – without the need for expert advice in most cases (for example, from a land agent, adviser, agronomist or similar). An important point of piloting will be to test whether this is true in practice, and we will adjust the scheme based on what we learn.

We expect the existing wide range of private sector advisers to be well placed to be the primary providers of advice in the future schemes. During the early years of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme, we will help to build capacity and capability in the advice market. This will include equipping advisers with the knowledge and resources needed to advise on the new schemes.

We will develop our approach to advice with participants. For example, we will work with participants who do not source advice specific to their pilot application and agreement and compare their experience to those who do. This will help us understand when, why and who they turned to for additional help.

We will see how a participant’s approach to advice affects their progress towards environmental outcomes and levels of environmental ambition. We will also look at:

where advice is most commonly sought
the ability of the market to meet participant needs
perceptions around the value of advice
whether paid-for advice offers good value for farmers

Land management plans

Land management plans are intended to be a major feature of the future schemes. They will allow farmers to map and record the starting (baseline) condition of their land and plan their future land management activities. They are intended to be a flexible tool owned by farmers – something they can adjust and update to meet their individual needs and circumstances.

At the start of the pilot, land management plans will not be part of the formal application, but we will ask participants to prepare them as part of learning activities.

We want land management plans to empower farmers and give them more say in how they deliver environmental benefits. They also have potential to reduce administrative burden. For example, having a record of the starting condition of land and actions taken might make it easier (for both farmers and administrators) to demonstrate what has been done in return for public money.

Our approach to land management plans builds on the work of over 50 tests and trials, which have involved thousands of participants working on land management plans. Initial feedback suggests farmers find them useful and that the plans help to drive value for money and the delivery of public goods. Further work is needed around how plans will best support agreement monitoring, compliance, transparency, local awareness and engagement. This will be taken forward through further tests and trials, and piloting.

We will also work with participants to explore whether some of the information in land management plans should be published. Experience from our tests and trials suggests that publishing plans could:

promote transparency around public spending
enable lighter touch checks and auditing
build local awareness and collaboration amongst participants
highlight the important work that farmers do for the environment

Application and agreement process

We want the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme application and agreement process to be straightforward, quick and flexible. We want it to involve far less administrative effort than previous schemes. We will use early piloting to test and improve the process.

We will look at how land management plans might support applications and agreements. For example, if the plans could become a statement of what the farmer is agreeing to do, this might further simplify the application process.

We also want to explore the extent to which ‘self-declared information’ can be used to support applications and agreements. Self-declared information is information supplied by farmers and taken on trust, with less need for up-front checking and verification by administrators. Should the pilot show that there is a high degree of accuracy in the information provided by participants, this has potential to reduce administrative burden for farmers and administrators. For example, farmers who provide timely and accurate information might benefit from lighter-touch or less frequent compliance checks.

Scheme compliance and agreement monitoring

We want the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme to reflect a fundamental reset in our approach to checking compliance and agreement monitoring. It should ensure long-term value for money through delivery of sustainable environmental benefits at scale. We want to focus on outcomes and improvement, rather than penalising shortcomings – while at the same time ensuring public money is properly safeguarded.

We will explore how Sustainable Farming Incentive compliance checks can be implemented simply and effectively, adding value by supporting long-term success. For example, we will explore:

how farmers can demonstrate success (or, failing that, demonstrate compliance) through record keeping including use of self-assessment to record progress – for example, photos and video evidence
how to target compliance checks, such as random selection or risk-based selection, and how those checks should best operate
how to focus compliance on the quality and outcomes of work, rather than the largely quantitative checks used under previous schemes. For example, we will focus on a hedgerow’s quality and how well it was achieving its intended purpose – rather than on the exact application of actions and timings set out in the pilot agreement guidance.
how to focus any enforcement on improvement. For example, if a farmer is having trouble implementing an agreement, wherever possible we want to help them improve – rather than penalising them for what they have not done well
new ways of monitoring using geospatial data, remote sensing and virtual checks
how membership of accreditation schemes may be recognised

All future schemes will need to have safeguards against the possibility of serious and deliberate non-compliance. We want to ensure these measures are proportionate, and we will use our piloting to look at how this might be achieved.

Supporting technology and administrative systems

We want the technology and administrative systems that support the future schemes to be effective, functional and simple to use.

In the first phase of piloting, we will reuse and adapt existing systems. More developed systems will begin to come online when the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme roll-out begins. We intend to develop and improve these systems over time, with the aim of making them work much better for participants than those used for existing schemes.

More widely, Defra will continue to work with farmers over the next few years to make sure the farmer-facing systems we rely on are joined up, and can be accessed and used more easily.

Question 5

Launching the first phase of piloting

Accepted Answer

Who we want to take part

Do not base an application on information in this document. Since its publication, some of the information about eligibility, standards and payments has been updated. For the latest guidance, check the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot guidance collection.

We want our initial group of several hundred farmers to come from a range of farm types from across England.

We need participants who have the capacity (on top of everything else they are doing) to commit to specific learning activities and provide timely, regular and comprehensive feedback on the pilot version of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme. For anyone who feels that piloting is not for them, other opportunities are available (see Annex 2).

For the first phase of piloting, a farmer is only eligible if they:

are a recipient of the Basic Payments Scheme, registered on the Rural Payments Agency system
enter land parcels (for example, fields) into the pilot that do not have an existing agri-environment agreement on them
have management control of the land for the duration of the pilot (scheduled to run until late 2024). They must either own the land with management control or have a tenancy of enough length to implement their pilot agreement (including landlord’s permission if required)
enter land parcels that are in England
enter land parcels that are not registered common land or shared grazings

Public bodies (such as local authorities or government departments) are not eligible for the first phase of piloting the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme.

In future phases, we are aiming to extend eligibility to include a wider range of farmers. We will also look to extend eligibility to specific types of farm not eligible for the first phase, such as the inclusion of common land and shared grazings.

In practice, entry into the first phase of piloting will also be limited by the fact that only an initial set of standards will be available. For example, the initial standards will not include land with peaty soils, unenclosed uplands, and specific measures to support animal health and welfare that lead to reduced greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental benefits. As a result, some farms may not be able to take part in the first phase of piloting. In later phases of piloting, a fuller range of standards will be available.

What piloting will involve

Participants will be required to undertake land management actions set out in their pilot agreement, and actively take part in helping Defra learn from the pilot.

Pilot learning will involve a range of activities, including surveys, interviews, group meetings, workshops and telling others about their experiences. We will be seeking feedback on all the scheme and process areas set out above.

We will keep learning activities straightforward. We want to capture ideas while minimising bureaucracy. However, potential participants should be aware that we anticipate that learning activities may involve, on average, around 10-15 hours per month to inform our learning.

We expect that most of these hours will involve ‘thinking while doing’. For example, a participant might be thinking about how aspects of the scheme (such as technical guidance or land management actions) could be improved, while planning or physically undertaking work. A smaller proportion of the time would be desk based, for example taking part in questionnaires or workshops.

Payments available in the pilot

Do not base an application on information in this document. Since its publication, some of the information about eligibility, standards and payments has been updated. For the latest guidance, check the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot guidance collection.

Farmers will be paid a fair rate for participating in the pilot. This will include payment for land management actions, and a participation payment for taking part in learning activities. Pilot agreements would last until the pilot ends in late 2024.

Payment rates for land management actions, for the first phase of piloting, are shown in the table below. More detail is given in Annex 1. These rates are set at a broadly equivalent level to rates under Countryside Stewardship. This is a starting position only. Updated payment rates for the launch of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme from 2022 are currently being developed, in consultation with farmers and representative groups.

As our approach to Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme payments evolves, this will be reflected in pilot payment rates. Participants already in the pilot will not be unfairly disadvantaged compared to those who join later.

Standard	Initial base rates (first phase of pilot only)
Arable and horticultural land standard	from £28 up to £74 per hectare
Arable and horticultural soils standard	from £30 up to £59 per hectare
Improved grassland standard	from £27 up to £97 per hectare
Improved grassland soils standard	from £6 up to £8 per hectare
Low and no input grassland standard	from £22 up to £110 per hectare
Hedgerow standard	from £16 up to £24 per 100 metres
On farm woodland standard	£49 per hectare
Waterbody buffering standard	from £16 up to £34 per 100 metres

In some cases, additional payments are available, as explained in Annex 1.

We will adopt a principle of no double payments. This means we will not pay someone for doing a land management action if they are also being paid for doing the same thing in the same place under another government scheme (such as Countryside Stewardship). We are also considering how this might extend to people receiving payments under a private arrangement, such as carbon trading or biodiversity net gain credits.

The participation payment will be a flat rate (the same for each participant) to help keep the payment simple and as fair as possible. For example, this means that a participant with a smaller area of land will be paid the same as one with a larger land area. This is because the learning demands on each participant are the same.

We plan to pay monthly in arrears from the date agreements start, except for capital item payments. These will follow a claim-back process (so a farmer will pay for a capital item and then claim back from Defra).

As for Countryside Stewardship, pilot participants who are eligible for BPS payments will continue to receive their BPS payments for the duration of the pilot.

Annex 1 sets out the payment rates for land management actions in the first phase of piloting. We will publish further details on the pilot participation payment in due course.

More information on the payments for the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme from 2022 will be published in due course.

How to volunteer

Farmers will be invited to submit expressions of interest to take part in piloting. This will help us gauge the level of interest within the farming community and get a good mix of participants. Interested farmers will be asked to complete and submit a short, simple tick-box form online.

Once we have enough expressions of interest, we will invite farmers from a mix of farms and locations to make a pilot application. If we are oversubscribed, interested parties will be selected at random and invited to apply.

People who have been invited to apply will prepare their applications and, if eligible, enter into an agreement.

Expected timings are:

March 2021: pilot information published, and farmers invited to make expressions of interest for taking part in piloting
June 2021: selected farmers invited to submit an application
Summer 2021: agreements processed
October 2021: first agreements go live
November 2021: first monthly payments issued

Question 6

Piloting of future schemes

Accepted Answer

We are planning further piloting of the Sustainable Farming Incentive and other future schemes from 2022.

Preparations for piloting the Local Nature Recovery scheme will begin in 2021. We expect to begin piloting this scheme in 2022. We will pilot a number of scheme aspects. This will include exploring how best to bring together groups of farmers and land managers to deliver large-scale environmental benefits that align with Local Nature Recovery strategies. More details will be released in due course.

Piloting of Landscape Recovery will centre around 10 large land use change projects, starting from 2022. In 2021, we will publish details of how we will invite nominations for potential projects.

Question 7

Annex 1: Overview of initial standards

Accepted Answer

Do not base an application on information in this document. Since its publication, some of the information about eligibility, standards and payments has been updated. For the latest guidance, check the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot guidance collection.

The tables below outline the initial eight standards involved in the first phase of piloting the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme. They give an overview of the type of actions available to participants, and the intended outcomes.

The standards will encourage wildlife and carbon-friendly farming – for example through hedgerow, soil and woodland management.

This is an initial, high-level, summary only. The full description of where and how standards can be applied, more detail on actions, and how success can be gauged, will be published before the pilot application window opens in June 2021.

Further guidance will also explain important terms used in the tables below. For example, it will explain how to identify grassland types (improved, or low and no input), how to develop management plans, and how to carry out soil assessments.

The payment rates set out in the tables are only for the first phase of piloting. As explained above, these rates are a starting position only. Updated rates for the launch of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme from 2022 are currently being developed, in consultation with farmers and other representative groups.

The tables show the base payment rates associated with each standard. For example, the base payment for the hedgerow introductory level is £16 per 100 metres.

The tables also show additional payments for additional actions that will apply in some circumstances. Please note that:

additional actions only appear in certain standards. As with normal actions, they build on the previous ambition level. For example, an intermediate additional action would also include additional actions from the introductory level
where they are included in a standard, they only apply to limited areas where there is a particular need for additional actions (for example, land where soil is at high risk of erosion and run-off, or where there is a need to add buffer zones around trees in arable fields)
some farms will not have land that qualifies for additional actions
guidance will be made available before the application window opens in June 2021, to help applicants identify whether additional actions may be relevant to their farms

Capital items will be available to support all the standards. Items will include planting new hedges, filling gaps in hedgerows, tree planting, fencing, and livestock water troughs. This is not set out in the tables below, but details will be published alongside further guidance on standards.

Arable and horticultural land standard

Manage your arable and horticultural land to increase farmland biodiversity, including wild bird and pollinator populations. Your land will:

provide food rich habitats for a variety of species
increase habitat connectivity
ensure efficient use of nutrients
manage pest populations
reduce greenhouse gas emissions
improve water quality