SFI offers some ‘Easy Wins’ for Dairy Farmers

At a recent Hutchinson’s’ demonstration day, hosted at Midtown Farm, Kirkhampton, Cumbria, by kind permission of the Brown Family, farmers heard how they could make the best use of technology to maximise the efficiency of their land, cut costs and receive payments from the Sustainable Farm Incentive.

Dairy producers could benefit from some ‘easy wins’ when qualifying for payments under the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), with many farmers already meeting the criteria, experts explained at a recent crop trial demonstration day organised by Hutchinsons.

Farmers entering the Improved Grassland Soils standards at the introductory level are eligible for £28/ha across the whole farm for actions most farmers are already completing, said Hutchinsons’ Farm Business Consultant Will Foyle.

 

Under this standard, farmers must:

• Test soil organic matter
• Undertake a soil assessment
• Produce a soil management plan
• Have 95% green cover to protect soil.

 

“For an ARLA 365 farmer or those farms assured with Red Tractor, they already need a soil assessment, so they will meet the criteria at the introductory level. Those meeting the introductory level and with at least 15% of the land in clover or long-term leys with legumes or wildflowers will also be eligible for the Intermediate level, which pays £58/ha.

“This is paid across the whole farm, not just the land meeting the criteria. There’s no reason every farmer shouldn’t be claiming for this,” he said.

“Another easy win is conducting a Nutrient Management Plan, which will pay farmers £589 a year, but in reality, it could save them a lot more money by demonstrating how they use nutrients effectively whilst maximising yields.”

 

Using technology to inform decisions

Hutchinsons revolutionary soil scanning technology, Terramap, which received a silver award at the Royal Highland Show last month (June 2023) can help farmers tick the boxes for the SFI, highlighting where and what nutrients are required and soil management problems.

TerraMap uses passive, gamma-ray detection technology, providing high-definition mapping of all common nutrient properties, pH, soil texture, organic matter, carbon and CEC (soil fertility), as well as elevation and plant available water.

It also measures the levels of P, K, Mg, pH and % of clay, sand, silt, texture, calcium, manganese, boron, copper, molybdenum, iron, zinc, sulphur and organic matter. The results are then used to create maps within the digital farming software called Omnia, highlighting where possible problems are and targeting further investigations.

The technology can be used to create tailored application plans for organic and inorganic fertiliser, soil management plans and producing reports to help with Red Tractor or NVZ compliance.

“We have customers that have used TerraMap and have paid for the service in its first year through savings on lime where the pH has been wrong,” Mr Foyle explained.

“The better data you have, the more informed decisions you can make. It means farmers can use manures more effectively and in a targeted way and save on artificial nitrogen.”

Dick Neale, technical manager at Hutchinsons, reassured farmers of the easy wins that can be gained by signing up for the SFI.

“Sit down and think about what you’re doing and how you can potentially get paid for things you are already doing or could tweak,” he said.

He gave an example of companion cropping under the anticipated arable land standard, where farmers could receive £55/ha for companion cropping.

“If you are growing winter barley or wheat, it just means putting in some companion beans, for example. It isn’t that wacky. The beans don’t interfere with the crop and works with a residual herbicide,” he said.

Mr Neale also urged farmers to invest in decent soil analysis to understand the structural integrity and chemical processes.

“You need to know a lot more than the basics. The starting point, however, is knowing the soil pH and getting it right. pH affects all different things but particularly the ability to absorb nutrients,” he said.

 

Carbon Footprinting 

And with processors such as ARLA pushing their farmers to reduce their farm carbon footprint, it’s an element to consider when planning what to do on the farm.

TerraMap can be used to map carbon in the soil and is the first-ever carbon mapping service to provide the most accurate baseline measurement of both organic and active carbon in the soil.

Visitors to the open day were told to move away from seeing carbon footprinting as a burden or simply a tick-box exercise and instead see it as beneficial, as a proxy measurement for efficiency and profitability of a farm as well as simply a measure of waste.