News & Resources

Great news that the CS Mid-Tier will be extended - but what does it mean for the future of SFI?

Tom's take on Dieter Helm's paper outlining the big forces he thinks will be driving UK farming for the next 10 years

Last week we passed the 1 million hectare milestone — that's over 11.4% of England’s farmland now on our platform, less than two years since launch. That progress has only been possible because of the brilliant team of software developers we already have, and now we’re looking for more to join them.

At Soil Benchmark we’ve been busy building easy-to-use tools to get these jobs sorted as quickly and painlessly as possible:

Help shape the future of nutrient planning. 🔁 PLEASE SHARE with anyone who should be there

This Thursday at Groundswell Agriculture, Tom will be joined by three brilliant grower group facilitators I met along the way to unpack how we can change this: 🌿 Tim Field 🌳 Nick Marriner 🌱 Andrea McKenna

Tom's take on George Eustice's reflections on the future of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI). For those not following the twists and turns of farming policy as nerdily as me 😂 here’s a quick explainer:

We’re at Stand 106 – just on the left as you come in - come and claim your free cap if you've upgraded more than 5 farms

We’re celebrating with 10% off all week! From a scrappy idea to a trusted tool for 3,755 farms (and counting) — thank you.

DEFRA says ~3,000 paused SFI applications can now go ahead — but only up to £9.3k/year. New data shows SAM3 leads by value, while SAM1 covers the most land.

Tom's just back from 5 weeks across Aus for his Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust study (funded by Yorkshire Agricultural Society 🙏). A few highlights 👇

Following Tom's last update (https://t.ly/tVJwY) on the Corry Review, here's a look at two big recent updates for Wales:

The DEFRA-commissioned Corry Review landed earlier this week, and Environment Secretary Steve Reed has indicated DEFRA

Insights and analysis on the SFI progress update from DEFRA for the final months of 2024 and looking forward into 2025

A few key themes coming through in conversations so far, some of which which will sound pretty familiar:

Tom reflects on the importance of grower groups in Australian agriculture and announces his upcoming antipodean trip

Tom reflects on Dan Neidle's excellent article discussing changes to farm IHT.

Tom dives into the latest stats for the Sustainable Farming Incentive