Farmers are facing tough decisions on the future of environmental measures, as the Countryside Stewardship (CS) scheme will end by December this year and the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is paused with its future unknown.

This is the situation Suffolk farmer Graham Denny is in, with his in-field environmental improvements in a Mid Tier Countryside Stewardship scheme due to end on 31 December.

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Stewardship schemes have become a key part of the 80ha farm near Little Stonham, a few miles outside of Stowmarket.

The first schemes were entered into in 1998, with hedges being planted along with the introduction of grass margins.

“We could see sparrowhawks were decimating yellowhammers. So we started putting hedges in, and then your love for [doing environmental actions] grows as you start to see the results,” Graham says.

That initial work rolled into a Higher Level CS scheme, which included wild bird feeding and coincided with Graham becoming involved in a bird ringing project that has continued since.

“We’ve rung more than 82,000 small birds since 2005, including over 10,000 yellowhammers.”

© Mike Abram

Habitat at risk

In total, he believes there are 51 species on the farm that are on the government’s Section 41 priority list, but habitat to support those and many others is now at risk with the present Mid Tier agreement due to end.

That was entered into after Graham had been involved in Defra and Natural England’s results-based area payment scheme (RBAPS) pilot from 2016 that continued until 2020 as part of the Test and Trials programme under Environmental Land Management scheme development.

“When that finished, SFI was not quite ready to go, so we put the arable fields into Mid Tier,” Graham says.

Subsequently, the farm has enrolled in a basic SFI scheme to cover hedges, boundaries and soil sampling that were not part of the Mid Tier scheme.

“The Section 41 lists species that are rare or have the biggest declines,” Graham says. “We’ve reversed those declines in a lot of species, but now we’re being forced to stop.

“It just makes me angry that they are not even thinking of giving an extension until a new scheme is announced, so we know what to do.”

© Mike Abram

New scheme

Conversations earlier this year about extending his SFI scheme similarly fell on deaf ears.

“It will be too late if Defra waits until the Oxford Farming Conference to announce details of a new scheme.”

The December end date also complicates decision-making, with the loss of a year’s funding if in-field environmental measures are destroyed early, which would allow the land back into winter cropping.

“I’m not prepared to do that because the stewardship money is likely to be similar to the profit from getting a winter wheat crop in,” Graham says.

But preparing land in January is more challenging, with late sown winter wheat or spring cropping not without risk.

In addition, without knowing whether he will crop that land, he’s potentially unable to purchase fertiliser and other inputs at more favourable terms.

“It feels like everything is against you – the way Defra is doing things is just trying to kill us off.”

Recognising the likely limitations on funding for future schemes, Graham suggests areas should be capped to a percentage of the farmed area, while remaining open to all.

Flat fee payment

He also thinks that there should be a flat fee payment for basic actions, regardless of what options are undertaken, with a requirement for diversity, depending on farm size.

“It should be a little like the old three-crop rule. If you’re a small 50ha farm and the cap is 10% of the area, then you should be able to do two different options.

“If you’re a larger farm, say 400ha, you should be doing at least six different actions.

“There needs to be diversity – just doing 50 acres of wild bird food, for example, doesn’t work. In one big plot and there’s a sparrowhawk, the birds don’t settle.

“If you have three smaller areas, they can go to another spot to feed.”

Payments could be calculated simply by removing cropped area and buildings from the total farmed area, he suggests.

Inspections could concentrate on improving outcomes rather than measuring to the last metre the area of different options.

“If it was calculated in that way, it wouldn’t matter if you’ve gone over with one option at the expense of another,” he says. “It would be a lot easier.”

But without a viable future scheme to enter, it is very likely that most, if not all, the environmental areas on the farm will be returned to arable production, he stresses.

“And to make a living, which is going to be without any support payments, do I have to start spraying chemicals again to maintain profitability?

“It’s taken 20-plus years to build this up, and will take just one year to kill it,” he concludes.

Management of options

© Mike Abram

Across the farm, Graham has selected 52 in-field environmental stewardship options in 12 fields.

It helps create a patchwork of different habitats that have contributed to the success of wildlife on the farm.

But how certain options are managed can make a huge difference to the delivery of such beneficial outcomes, Graham says.  

One good example is AB8 – flower-rich margin and plots made up of both grasses and flowering species.

In part of one 17ha field, Graham is demonstrating how different management influences the end result with a standard AB8 mix and management compared with his enhanced version.

Rib-rolling

Both areas were established following a winter wheat crop with the stubble cultivated with a pigtail cultivator to loosen, followed with a press to level, and rib-rolled, Graham explains.

“Rib-rolling a couple of times helps get a fine seed-bed and good seed-to-soil contact.”

The main difference between the standard practice and his enhanced version is that he splits the establishment of the wildflowers and the grasses in the enhanced version.

He broadcasts the wildflowers in September before harrowing in grass seed the following spring once the wildflowers have established.

In comparison, the standard mix is all broadcast in September.

The result is chalk and cheese in terms of the numbers of flowering species established.

The enhanced version is full of multiple flowering species, such as knapweed, bird’s foot trefoil, red and white clovers, teasel, agrimony and buttercups.

In contrast, the standard approach has resulted in a grass-dominant area.

“Both approaches have their merits,” Graham says. “But the one with more flowers is humming with bees, butterflies, moths, dragonflies and other insects.”

Another method of improving wildflower delivery is to grow fine grasses, such as fescues, rather than tall grasses, which provide more competition for flowering species, he says.

In-season management

In-season management is mostly mowing in year one to help improve root structures, and then selective mowing at appropriate times.

Graham’s almost encyclopaedic knowledge of what species uses and likes different flowering species helps guide his management.

For example, by leaving teasel heads past October he both feeds goldfinches and other birds, and a moth that overwinters as a caterpillar in the teasel head.

“And so many small bees live in stalks overwinter, so if you cut these areas down completely in October, as the guidance suggests, you lose all those bees and other insects.

“It doesn’t just work by growing some flowers, cutting it down, letting it grow again. It never has worked that way,” he says.