https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/use-harvested-low-input-cereal/
Use harvested low input cereal
The guidance on this page is for SFI pilot participants only. Please visit GOV.UK for the official Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme guidance.
Find out how land managers can help birds, pollinators and other wildlife by growing harvested low input cereal.
If you’re completing this action as part of the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot, how you do it is up to you.
The advice on this page can help you get better environmental and business benefits, but you do not have to follow it to get paid.
Growing cereal without inputs
Low input cereal are grown without fertiliser, insecticide or broad-leaved herbicide. You sow the crop at a lower seed rate than commercial planting to create an open structure. This allows extra space and light, which encourages wildflowers to germinate and set seed.
Wildlife use harvested low input cereal as a spring and summer food source. To provide food year-round you can use unharvested low input cereal.
Benefits of harvested low input cereal
Harvested low input cereal provides:
- space for rare arable wildflowers like cornflower and shepherd’s needle
- pollen and nectar for insects
- an insect-rich food source for nesting farmland birds
- habitat for beneficial predators like ladybirds, ground beetles and hoverflies, which help control problem pests
- shelter and foraging for brown hares and other small mammals
- a buffer to sensitive habitats like hedgerows and ponds
How to grow harvested low input cereal
You’ll need to plough your land before sowing to bring the seeds of arable wildflowers to the surface. Harvested low input cereal is not suitable for min-till or no-till farming.
Choose your location
Create your harvested low input cereal anywhere you normally use for commercial crops. For the best results, choose locations which have:
- light to medium free-draining soils with a history of both autumn and spring cropping
- open, sunny locations, as this will give desirable plants a better chance of growing among the cereal
- low levels of weeds like couch, blackgrass, brome, ryegrass, wild oats or cleavers
- known populations of arable wildflowers like common poppy, field pansy, common chickweed or redshank
- known populations of seed-eating birds like grey partridge, turtle dove, tree sparrow, yellowhammer or corn bunting
Avoid areas where you’ve grown oilseed rape, potatoes, beans or peas. These crops will continue to grow and are difficult to control in a low input cereal crop.
Do not plant low input cereal where ploughing could cause damage to historic earthworks or below-ground historic features.
What to sow
Good low input cereal crops include:
- barley
- oats
- rye
- triticale
- wheat
- red or white millet
You can include flower species like red clover and lucerne to provide extra foraging for beneficial insects.
Avoid maize or sorghum as they are too tall and shade out arable wildflowers.
If your farm supports breeding corn bunting, sow barley where possible. You can also consider oats and wheat.
Ask your seed supplier or agronomist about the most suitable seed mix for your land, especially if you have strongly acidic or alkaline soils.
When to sow
Sow when it will encourage rare arable wildflowers to germinate, if you have them on your land. Talk to a specialist if you need to find out when specific plants germinate.
Sow red and white millet in spring as they are not winter hardy.
Spring-sown crops may have fewer grass weeds and provide valuable nesting habitat for birds like skylarks.
How to sow
Create an open crop structure. Sow at a rate to produce a plant population of 450 to 700 fertile tillers per square metre. You can achieve this by sowing at 100kg per hectare (kg/ha) on wider than the usual 10-inch row spacings.
Reduce your seed rate if you cannot sow on wider row spacings.
| Sowing date | Maximum seed rate, kg/ha below 10-inch row spacing |
|---|---|
| 30 April to 30 September | 70 |
| 1 October to 31 October | 80 |
| 1 November to 30 November | 90 |
| 1 December to 30 April | 100 |
How to manage harvested low input cereal
Harvest late
Harvest your cereal as late as possible so arable wildflowers can set seed. For most species this will be by mid-August.
Provide more habitat for wildlife by leaving stubbles over winter in place. You could plant a cover crop if your land is at risk of soil erosion.
Control weeds
If you get a build-up of weeds, rotate the crop around your holding.
To control weeds like spear thistle, dock and ragwort you can:
- spot treat with herbicide using a knapsack sprayer, hand-lance or weed wiper
- remove weeds by hand before they’ve completed flowering
Only use selective herbicides that will not kill arable wildflowers growing in the crop. You can ask your herbicide supplier about this.
Only top weeds as a last resort as it will remove seed heads and can harm wildlife. Top at least 30cm above the ground and across no more than 10% of the plot to reduce the risk of harming wildlife.
Use less fertiliser
For a good balance between crop yield and benefits to wildlife, apply no more than:
- 100kg/ha of organic nitrogen from manures
- 50kg/ha of inorganic nitrogen from artificial fertilisers
You can use inorganic phosphate, potassium and sulphur fertilisers and lime as normal.
Insecticides and fungicides
Do not use insecticides on harvested low input cereal. The insects within crops are a vital food source for farmland birds. You can use a fungicide if needed.
You can create beetle banks or tussocky grass margins to provide habitats for predators of crop pests.
Use slug pellets as a last resort
Slug pellets can harm other wildlife. If you plan to use slug pellets:
- use test baiting to monitor the slug population
- only consider using pellets if there are 4 or more slugs per trap
- consider ferric phosphate-based pellets, which are less toxic to other wildlife
What successful low input cereal looks like
You’ll see:
- a crop in an open, sunny location
- colourful arable wildflowers like wild poppies growing among the cereal
- bees, butterflies and other pollinators feeding on nectar
- arable wildflowers completing their lifecycle and setting seed
- grey partridge, corn bunting and other farmland birds using the area to forage for seeds and insects
- birds like skylark nesting in your spring cereal
