CIGL1: Take grassland field corners or blocks out of management

The following changes have been made to this action for SFI26 (compared with the SFI24 version):

• you can now put all or part of a parcel's available area into this action – this only applies to SFI26 agreements, not existing SFI23 or SFI24 agreements
• minor updates to standard wording which appears in all area-based SFI actions

This action’s aim is that there are grassland field corners or blocks taken out of management, so tussocky grass can develop.

The purpose of this is to:

• provide year-round habitat for a range of wildlife
• support an IPM approach if located close to cropped areas

What you must do

You must leave grassland field corners or blocks entered into this action unmanaged, so they’re uncut and un-grazed.

You must not do the following on the unmanaged grassland field corners or blocks:

• graze them with livestock
• cut them, except for localised cutting to control injurious weeds or invasive non-natives, soft or hard rush, nettles or bracken
• carry out activities that may disturb breeding birds or damage nests as birds, nests and eggs are protected by law
• apply any fertilisers, manures or lime
• apply pesticides, except for herbicides to weed wipe or spot treat to control injurious weeds, invasive non-native species, nettles or bracken

You can maintain existing grassy field corners or blocks to get paid for this action, if they meet this action’s requirements.

When to do it

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

Where you can do it

You can do this action on agricultural land located below the moorland line that’s:

• 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 action is static. This means you must do it at the same location each year of this action’s duration.

It counts toward the 25% limit

This is a ‘limited area’ action. The total eligible area you enter into any combination of one or more of the ‘limited area’ actions must not be more than 25% of the total agricultural area of your farm. Read section 4.5 ‘Limited area SFI actions’ in the SFI26 scheme information for more details (including a list of the ‘limited area’ actions).

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.