October 2023 – Monitor costs in tandem with pursuing environmental ambitions

Entering a Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) or Countryside Stewardship (CS) scheme provides an ideal opportunity to undertake a whole-farm cost review, explains CLM’s Oli Pilbeam.

“£673/ha? I may as well put my entire farm down for that.”

That’s a comment I’ve heard a lot over the past 12 months. It’s true, some of the SFI and CS options do sound financially appealing, especially given the volatility of grain markets, fertiliser prices and increased costs of generating working capital.

Factor in the need to make up for lost BPS  payments and it’s not surprising that a lot of us here, for example, on heavy Sussex soils, are tempted by payments of £673/ha (£272/acre) for flower-rich margins and plots or £593/ha (£240/acre) for the two-year sown legume fallow.

Read the full article here……