In the last week of January 2026 some 30 stakeholders have been invited to join the Farming and Countryside Programme’s ‘SFI Programme Forum meeting’, to discuss how they think the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) could be streamlined and changed, including whether some payments could be decreased. Read more →
Last month Plantlife published a new briefing paper which it is sharing with the DEFRA Director, Mike Rowe outlining the changes they and other grassland charities would like to see made to the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) to ensure the true value of species rich grasslands are unlocked and that permanent grasslands aren’t inadvertently lost to temporary herbal leys, among… Read more →
On Tuesday 21st January we held our Winter Webinar which gave an update on the government’s Environmental Land Management scheme (ELMs). Rory Johnson kicked things off with a deep dive into the new, endorsed, Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) action GRH6 – Manage priority habitat species-rich grassland. After discussing the actions aims, Rory then went on to explain how the action requirements differ… Read more →
On 12th November a host of organisations and business working to support the county’s rural community came together for the Rural Business Advice Day hosted by the Herefordshire Rural Hub at Lyde Arundel. We enjoyed catching up with some familiar faces as well as meeting new farmers and land managers. A series of presentations were made during the day on… Read more →
Great news that the GRH6 “action” is now available in the Expanded SFI offer, and we are able to offer you some helpful information. You can also read more on the Natural England (NE) website about GRH6 and how to register your interest. Some key points and top tips from HM: The action’s AIM is for there to be species rich grassland with a… Read more →
Good news about new rates for flower rich grassland in DEFRA’s recent announcement. Get ahead and make sure your eligible grassland gets on the Priority Habitat Inventory! Recent good news from DEFRA included new rates for species rich grassland, and we are celebrating with the Floodplain Meadow Partnership that floodplain meadows now have a special rate of their own too.… Read more →
Welcome to our August Newsletter. After a dry month and record-breaking heat in June we have been treated to one of the wettest Julys on record, and a very difficult year for making hay. Our seed harvesting plans have also been very disrupted, but with the occasional dry day we have managed to harvest from all our intended donor sites… Read more →
On 15th February we were delighted to have Joe Leaper and Lyndsey Stride from the Foundation for Common Land (FCL) lead a Zoom Webinar session which covered some of the unique challenges and opportunities of managing Commons in new funding frameworks. You can find the slides from the talk here: FCL ELMS for Commons Lindsey began by introducing the FCL… Read more →
