Over the past month we have continued our work to challenge DEFRA’s decision to remove the GRH6 action from the SFI 2026 offer and seek to determine how species rich grasslands can continue to be properly supported.

We are working at pace with over 40 organisations, with coordination from Plantlife, to deliver a multi-partner statement to DEFRA calling for them to review their decision. This will be followed by a policy paper which will, amongst other things, highlight the need for a Grassland Taskforce, Grassland Action Plan and Grassland Carbon Code. Grasslands make up 40% of the land area of England and yet there is still not a single dedicated person at DEFRA with oversight for this habitat.  

Have your say: we strongly encourage you to feed in your own experiences and views directly to DEFRA by writing a comment on the SFI26 blogpost. There is a very good article by Moor Meadows which offers a summary of some of the points you may wish to raise. Any comments on how the removal directly impacts your farming system are particularly encouraged.