AHW10: Low input harvested cereal crop

No substantive changes have been made to this action for SFI26 (compared with the SFI24 version). There have only been minor updates to standard wording which appears in all area-based SFI actions.

This action’s aim is that there’s a low input, open-structured cereal crop growing:

• in strips or plots
• during the spring and summer months until it’s harvested

The purpose of this is to:

• enable wildflower species to grow within the crop
• provide summer foraging sites for declining and localised farmland birds, such as yellowhammer and reed bunting
• provide habitat for skylarks, farmland wildlife and pollinator species

What you must do

You must establish an autumn or spring cereal crop (not maize):

• in strips or plots
• at a seed rate that’s reduced to a level that can reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim

As long as this action’s aim can reasonably be expected to be achieved, you can:

• undersow a seed mix into the spring cereal crop
• use a blend or mix of cereals

Once the cereal crop is established, you must manage it in a way that can reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim until it’s harvested.

You must not:

• harvest the crop before it can reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim (usually not before around mid-July)
• apply insecticides after around mid-March, until the crop is harvested

You must not apply herbicides, apart from those containing the following permitted active ingredients:

• amidosulfuron
• clodinafop-propargyl
• fenoxaprop-P-ethyl
• pinoxaden
• tri-allate

It may not be possible for you to use these permitted active ingredients on all crops. It’s your responsibility to confirm whether herbicides are approved for use on the affected crop.

You can use an existing cereal crop to get paid for this action if it:

• meets this action’s requirements
• is not already being paid for under another environmental land management scheme action or option, such as CS option AB14 (harvested low input cereal)

When to do it

You must do this action each year of its 3-year duration.

If this action’s start date means it’s too late to establish the cereal crop, you must establish it within 12 months of this action’s start date.

In the final year of this action’s duration, you must do this action until the crop is harvested or this action’s end date, whichever is earlier.

Where you can do it

• an eligible land type (as defined in section 5.1.1 ‘Eligible land types’ in the SFI26 scheme information)
• registered with an eligible land cover on your digital maps
• declared with a land use code which is compatible with the eligible land cover

Rotational or static

This is a rotational or static action – this means you can either:

• move its location for the second and third years of this action’s duration
• do it at the same location each year of this action’s duration

Evidence to keep

You must keep evidence to show what you’ve done to complete this action, such as:

• field operations at a land parcel level and associated invoices
• photographs or other documentation

If it’s not clear that you’ve done this action in a way that could reasonably be expected to achieve its aim, we may ask for this evidence. You must supply the evidence if we ask for it.