What the action involves
This action’s aim is that you maintain or establish hedgerow trees to help provide:
- habitat for wildlife
- carbon storage benefits
When to do it
By the end of your SFI agreement, you must have done this action so it meets the requirements explained above.
How to do it It’s up to you how you complete this action, as long as you do it in a way that can reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim. You may find it helpful to read the voluntary guidance on how to maintain or establish hedgerow trees, but you do not have to follow it.
What evidence to keep You should keep evidence to show what you’ve done to complete this action. This will help if it’s not clear that you’ve completed the action in a way that could reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim. You must supply this evidence if we ask for it.
This evidence could include photographs and other documentation to show what you’ve done to complete this action. If you choose to take photographs, read the guidance on how to take photographic evidence (annex A).
The SFI actions for integrated pest management are focused on:
- increasing knowledge and identifying opportunities for an integrated pest management (IPM) approach
- creating habitats for natural crop pest predators
- using companion cropping to suppress weeds, reduce diseases and provide protection from crop pests
- minimising use of insecticides
They include:
- IPM1: Assess integrated pest management and produce a plan
- IPM2: Flower-rich grass margins, blocks, or in-field strips
- IPM3: Companion crop on arable and horticultural land
- IPM4: No use of insecticide on arable crops and permanent crops
These actions should help with managing crop pests, diseases and weeds more sustainably to minimise use of pesticides.
This can help improve farm productivity by reducing costs and risks. The actions can also provide a range of environmental benefits, such as:
- increased biodiversity
- improved water, soil and air quality
Create habitats to support an IPM approach
The same action appears in the other schemes under a different code. The work is broadly the same; the rate and the length of the commitment are not.
- SFI 2024 — CHRW3: £10 per 100 metres (m) for both sides of an eligible hedgerow per year, over 3 years
Where you can do it
You can only do this action on both sides of an eligible hedgerow. You cannot enter one side of a hedgerow into this action.
This means you must have management control of both sides of the hedgerow and adjacent land. The only exception to this is if it’s a roadside hedgerow – you can enter that hedgerow into this action if you can meet the requirements explained below. Read the information about management control (section 4.1.1).
You can choose what total length of eligible hedgerows to enter into this action.
Read section 4.1.3 to find out how we define an eligible hedgerow for SFI.
Other land management actions or options you can do with HRW3 The table below sets out which other SFI actions, CS management options, ES revenue options and SFI pilot standards you can do in land parcels with eligible boundaries entered into HRW3.
Scheme Action or option codes that can be done with HRW3 SFI 2023 All SFI actions CS All CS management options, including BE3 (management of hedgerows) ES All ES revenue options, apart from boundary options SFI pilot All SFI pilot standards, except the SFI pilot hedgerows standard
What to do You must make sure there’s an average of at least 1 hedgerow tree per 100m over the total length of hedgerows entered into this action. This means some 100m lengths can contain no trees, as long as you meet this average. You can do this action by:
- maintaining existing trees growing within the hedgerow
- establishing new hedgerow trees
To establish a new hedgerow tree, you must either:
- select an existing sapling in the hedgerow with a single straight stem
- plant a new sapling – you can apply for CS Capital Grants to plant a hedgerow tree (TE1) and protect it with a tree guard (TE6)
You must identify each newly established hedgerow tree by tagging it or using another method to identify it clearly, so it can be avoided when managing the hedgerow.
You can include dead and dying trees when counting how many hedgerow trees are in a given length of hedgerow. This decaying wood can provide a habitat for invertebrates, nesting birds and bats. This does not include newly planted tree saplings that die before they become established.
You must not do the following to the hedgerow trees that are being maintained or established to complete this action:
- damage them
- cut them, unless there’s a clear need – for example, to prolong the life of the tree, for health and safety reasons (such as removing branches that pose a risk to people), or because it’s a tradition in the local landscape (such as coppicing or pollarding willow)
