This action’s aim is that there’s a dense and diverse grass sward throughout the year which:
- is on land at risk of erosion or surface runoff or that creates a buffer to a sensitive habitat
- has a range of heights during the autumn and winter months
- has minimal bare ground, so the soil is covered by vegetation and is not directly exposed to the elements
- has low fertiliser inputs
The purpose this is to:
- stabilise the soil
- reduce nutrient losses
- reduce the risk of flooding
What you must do
You must:
- establish a diverse grass sward on land entered into this action
- use a seed mix which includes at least 5 grass species
Once the grass sward is established, you must maintain it. To do this, you must manage it in a way that can reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim. This includes:
- making sure there’s an intact sward throughout the year, with minimal bare ground
- grazing or cutting the sward during the spring and summer months, with cuttings removed in late summer after the bird breeding season
You must not do the following on the grass sward:
- graze it with livestock during the autumn and winter months (usually from early October until mid-March)
- apply pesticides, except for herbicides to weed wipe or spot treat to control injurious weeds, invasive non-native species, nettles or bracken
- apply any fertilisers or manures from late summer until mid-winter (usually from mid-August until the end of January) – this is to reduce the risk of runoff
- apply any livestock manures with 100 kilograms (kg) or more of total nitrogen per ha per year
- where you do not use livestock manures, apply nitrogen fertiliser to supply 50kg or more per ha of total nitrogen per year
- supplementary feed, except for non-energy based mineral blocks
You can maintain an existing grass sward 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 option, such as CS option SW7 (arable reversion to grassland with low fertiliser input)
When to do it
If you’re establishing a new grass sward to meet this action, you must:
- sow the mix by early autumn, within 12 months of this action’s start date
- maintain it at the same location until this action’s end date
If you’re maintaining an existing grass sward to meet this action, you must do this until this action’s end date.
Where you can do it
You can do this action on agricultural land that’s:
- identified by you as being at risk of soil erosion or surface runoff, or is important for buffering ‘sensitive habitats’ – you must keep evidence of this
- 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
For the purposes of this action, ‘sensitive habitats’ include:
- watercourses and waterbodies (streams, rivers, ponds or lakes)
- sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) at risk of diffuse water pollution
- priority habitats – you can find these on Natural England’s priority habitat inventory map or the MAGIC website
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 written evidence that land entered into this action is either:
- at risk of soil erosion or surface runoff – you can use a soil management plan you’ve already produced for CSAM1 or SAM1 to identify this
- important for buffering sensitive habitats
You must also keep evidence to show what you’ve done to complete this action, such as:
- field operations at a land parcel level and associated invoices, including details of the seed mix used
- stocking records to show grazing activity at a land parcel level
- input records of nitrogen application
- photographs and 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 this evidence if we ask for it.
