Sustainable Farming Incentive: Grassland Actions

27th November 2024

The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) pays farmers and land managers to take up or maintain sustainable farming and land management practices. There are actions suitable for grassland parcels which may have minimal change in everyday management and get financial support.

Examples of the grassland actions are below:

Action code	Action name	Payment Rate / Ha	What to do…
*CIGL1*	Take grassland field corners or blocks out of management	£333 / ha	You must not graze with livestock, cut them, disturb breeding birds, apply fertilisers, FYM or line or apply any pesticides.
*CIGL2*	Winter bird food on improved grassland	£515 / ha	You must manage the improved grassland in a way that includes cutting it for silage or hay in a way that allows it to go to seed or leave it un-grazed after the final cut for silage and hay.
*CLIG3*	Manage grassland with very low nutrient inputs	£151 / ha	You must minimise the use of nutrient inputs applying no more than 12 tonnes per hectare of cattle farmyard manure or equivalent amounts of fertilisers.
*GRH1*	Manage rough grazing for birds	£121 / ha	The aim is to create a sward that has a range of heights with very short grass for bird feeding and nesting with areas of surface water and wet features.
*SCR1*	Create scrub and open habitat mosaics	£588 / ha	You must allow scrub to regenerate naturally or by planting a variety of native scrub species, or a combination of both, so scrub cover develops on between 10% and 60% of the area.
*SCR2*	Manage scrub and open habitat mosaics	£350 / ha	You must manage the scrub and non-woody grassy vegetation by patchy cutting or light cattle grazing to maintain the mosaic and manage the scrub so there’s dense and scattered scrub on between 10% and 60% of the area, as well as open areas.

In addition to the above actions there are also supplements that can be applied in to work alongside the grassland actions.

Examples of supplements are below:

Action code	Action name	Payment Rate / Ha	What to do…
*GRH7*	Haymaking	£157 / ha	You must not graze or cut the sward for a continuous period of at least 8 weeks during the spring and summer months before harvesting the crop. Compatible with CLIG3 and GRH6.
*GHR8*	Haymaking (late cut)	£187 / ha	You must not graze or cut the sward for a continuous period of at least 9 weeks during the spring and summer months before harvesting the crop. Compatible with CLIG3 and GRH6.
*GRH10*	Lenient grazing	£28 / ha	During the growing season, you must manage the sward to create habitats for insects by lightly grazing it with cattle, or a combination of cattle and sheep. Compatible with only CLIG3.
*GRH11*	Cattle grazing (non-moorland)	£59 / ha	This action’s aim is that an annual average of at least 60% of the grazing livestock units (GLU) on the grassland are cattle. Compatible with CLIG3, GRH1 and GRH6.