This action’s aim is that there’s grassland which produces a sward with:
- flowering grasses and wildflowers from late spring and during the summer months
- a variety of plant heights by autumn
- some covering of flowering grasses and wildflowers left to go to seed
- tussocky grass allowed to develop
The purpose of this is to:
- provide nectar and shelter for invertebrates and a food supply for farmland birds
- support an integrated pest management approach if located close to cropped areas
- minimise nutrients being carried in surface water runoff to watercourses
What you must do
You must minimise the use of nutrient inputs on the grassland entered into this action by applying no more than either:
- 12 tonnes per ha of cattle farmyard manure
- equivalent amounts of available nutrients as fertiliser or in other organic manures as an alternative to cattle farmyard manure
You must also do the following on the grassland:
- graze it with livestock or cut it in a way that can reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim
- minimise bare ground, so the soil is covered by vegetation and is not directly exposed to the elements
There must be an intact grass sward throughout the year, without compacted areas or poaching. You can carry out supplementary feeding of livestock on the grassland, but you must make sure this does not cause poaching.
You must not do the following on the grassland:
- apply digestate or any other industrial by-product, including paper waste
- carry out mechanical activities, including hay and silage cutting, in a way that may disturb breeding birds or damage nests as birds, nests and eggs are protected by law
- carry out drainage works
- plough, cultivate or re-seed it
- apply pesticides, except for herbicides to weed wipe or spot treat to control injurious weeds, invasive non-native species, nettles or bracken
- allow areas of scrub to develop on land with historic or archaeological features
If you cut the grassland for conserved forage, you must:
- not graze or cut it for a continuous period of at least 7 weeks during the spring and summer months before taking the forage cut, to allow the sward to develop flowering grasses and wildflowers
- in each land parcel, leave an uncut margin around the edge of the area entered into this action when it’s cut for conserved forage, to help provide shelter for invertebrates
After you’ve cut the area for conserved forage, you must manage it in a way that can reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim.
If you’re already managing grassland with very low nutrient inputs, you can use it 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 agreement option, such as CS option GS2 (permanent grassland with very low inputs (outside SDAs)) or GS5 (permanent grassland with very low inputs (SDAs))
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.
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.
