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Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot

The Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot: learning together

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: A view from the farm, Conversations we're having, Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot
A gathering of pilot participants on a farm

Farmers across England are helping us to test the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) through the SFI pilot. In this post, I’ll share a snapshot of what we’ve learned from pilot participants through on-farm and large-scale, regional face-to-face events.

6 months on: How the pilot is shaping the Sustainable Farming Incentive  

Hele Payne Farm

In November, we started to offer agreements to farmers taking part in the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot.  In this post, we'll share an overview of the things we’ve learned over the past 6 months and how we’re incorporating them into the design of the full scheme.

Video Diary: Farmer Jess Brooks on the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot

The Brooks Family joined the pilot to help us improve the Sustainable Farming Incentive. For over a century, the family has worked on South Thorness Farm, which is found on the north-west coast of the Isle of Wight, within the Hamstead Heritage Coast Area Of Natural Beauty. Listen to how sisters Jess and Sarah, along with their parents Adrian and Joyce, run through the management of their farm and their decision to join the pilot.

Watch episode 3: Land management plans and the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot

Growing-the-goods thumbnail

Through tests and trials, we want to understand the role that land management plans could play in our future schemes.  In the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot, we provided farmers with 3 different land management plan templates. Each template was developed through tests and trials. One of these templates was developed by the Growing the Goods test and trial group. Watch the final video to see farmers and growers who took part in the Growing the Goods Test & Trial. They share their experience of developing a land management plan.

Watch Episode 2: Land management plans and the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot

Pevensey-SFI-pilot-youtube-thumbnail

In the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot, we provided farmers with 3 different land management plan templates. Each template was developed through tests and trials. Farmer Martin Hole took part in the Cuckmere and Pevensey Levels test and trial. He explains how the vision for his farm, and the landscape in which he lives, has been supported by land management planning.

Video: Michael Orchard, livestock farmer, on the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot

We asked farmers helping us co-design the Sustainable Farming Incentive to share their experience in a video diary. In this video, Michael Orchard gives us a tour of his livestock farm in the Peak District National Park. He shares the improvements he’d like to see come out of the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot.

Watch Episode 1: Land Management Plans and the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: A view from the farm, Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot

In the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot, we provided farmers with 3 different land management plan templates. In this video, find out how participants Liz and Bryan, used land management planning to prepare their farm business for the future. 

Update on the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot 

In July, we opened the applications window for farmers to join our Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot.  In this post, Lisa Applin (Rural Payments Agency) and Tom Lewis (Future Farming and Countryside Programme) share the results of the application process, what the team learned and what they will do next.