Like many farmers, I’ve spent the past few years implementing measures to reduce my emissions on the farm through better soil management and livestock efficiency.

We have been direct-drilling about 60% of our cereal acreage with no-till methods, and now plant about 350ha of cover crops annually.

Initial fuel and time saving is positive and soils appear to be more resilient to weather events, but I am aware there is much more I can do.

See also: Three practical IPM strategies to help growers cut input costs

About the author

Robert Scott

Robert Scott farms 1,450ha of arable in mid-west Norfolk for seven different landowners. He grows combinable crops and sugar beet together with cover crops, grass leys and extensive countryside stewardship schemes. He also finishes 2,000 lambs a year. robert@thscottandson.co.uk Instagram: @thscottandson

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I think financial survival will go hand-in-hand with nature farming.

Our arable businesses are set to become more extensive, and environmental payments will provide the financial yardstick to which arable crop production will be judged.

I recently attended a local Carbon Clarity event hosted by the Royal Countryside Fund to better understand where the farm’s greenhouse gas emissions come from, and more importantly which ones I can do something about.

It was pleasing to see so many family farm businesses in attendance.

Now winter is here, I’m drafting Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) plans. It is certainly not the golden goose I’d hoped for. Income forgone on marginal land is seemingly how payments have been calculated.

SFI is, however, a very good opportunity to baseline soil and get pest and nutrient compliances in order while covering these costs. Better the carrot than the stick.

The arable scheme appears to be basic to encourage uptake, and as SFI evolves, I hope it will take us further down the environmental resilience journey.

Most farms will have received their delinked payments statement from the RPA last month. The decline of direct payments over the next four years will really hurt most businesses occupying land.

With the minimum wage also set to rise yet again in April, and machinery inflation showing no sign of slowing down, I worry we are on course for an agricultural depression of the same scale which decimated our industry 100 years ago.

One thing is for sure, our landscape will drastically change over the next decade.