SURVEY REVEALS MANY IN UK THAT ARE GROWING POTATOES SUSTAINABLY COULD BE BENEFITING FROM PUBLIC FUNDING
A RECENT survey by Knight Frank’s Rural Division, which specialises in land management, revealed that fewer than half of the respondents had signed up to the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), even though 87% are farming in a more nature-friendly way and could be benefiting from public funding opportunities.
The survey, which captures the current trends and influences in land management for Knight Frank’s annual state-of-the-nation Rural Report, shows that the barriers to uptake are the money involved in change, not wanting to reduce food production and the options being unclear in some cases.
Associate and Agricultural Consultant at Knight Frank, Henry Clemons, said: “From our experience, the full potential of SFI has yet to be realised because many farmers harbour preconceptions from past environmental programmes that discourage them from taking part.
“The expanded SFI however has 102 options to choose from as well as flexibility around which actions to take and how much land to include in the SFI agreement. What’s also attractive is that the SFI commitment can be a minimum of three years and has less severe prescriptions than previous schemes so it’s an opportunity to try different systems and see what works.”
This creates plenty of opportunity to complement the farming systems and aspirations of most growing businesses, according to Henry, who specialises in private and public sector grant funding solutions for rural businesses across the UK.
“If you combine the SFI with the capital grants available, which can be more complex to apply for but can make a real difference, farmers will be able to replace a significant amount of the BPS. There’s also a real danger that, if the money is not spent, we will be returning another £100m to the Treasury as is currently being proposed.”
Almost 40% of the survey respondents are looking at adopting regenerative farming techniques. For example, no-till farming and cutting out insecticide use are valuable as they can help de-risk the transition from conventional farming systems.
With 80% saying food production was ‘very important’, Henry is reminding growers that many of the options involve less productive areas such as field margins, headlands, watercourse buffers and the areas around in-field trees, so the impact of adopting them on overall yields and profit should be minimal – while boosting biodiversity to attract the incentives.
“Although there are still a few niggles for Defra to iron out, we’re urging growers to take advantage as it’s an excellent tool that offers versatility,” said Henry. “Each action contains advice to help the applicant deliver the required actions. There’s not one glove that fits all and it’s a matter of layering the different SFI actions to do what’s right for each individual business.”
With the new Labour government in place and making its own plans and policies, Henry said it’s a good time for potato growing businesses to take stock and ensure they are well placed to cope with the challenges and benefit from the opportunities as they come down the line.
“The environmental problem is not going away, and there’s recognition of the role farming can play in helping mitigate the world’s climate crisis. It’s important to continue to build a business strategy through both an environmental and a financial lens, and for the next two years at least. The money is there, and growers should seek to maximise it to benefit the future of their business.”
