What the action involves
This action’s aim is that you do not use plant protection products containing insecticide. The purpose of this is to:
- support an IPM approach by managing crops pests in a more sustainable way
- improve water and air quality
- increase biodiversity
When to do it
You must do this action each year of your 3-year SFI agreement.
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 manage arable and horticultural crops without using insecticide, 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. It could also include field operations at a land parcel level and associated invoices. If you choose to take photographs, read the guidance on how to take photographic evidence (annex A).
The SFI actions for nutrient management are focused on:
- increasing nutrient management knowledge
- supporting more efficient use of nutrients
- encouraging more effective use of organic sources of crop nutrition
They include:
- NUM1: Assess nutrient management and produce a review report
- NUM2: Legumes on improved grassland
- NUM3: Legume fallow
These actions should help to optimise use of nutrients and manage them more efficiently, reducing costs and waste and helping to improve farm productivity and resilience. They should also provide a range of environmental benefits, including:
- improved water and air quality
- increased biodiversity
- reduced emissions (through reduced use of inorganic fertilisers)
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.
- SFI26 — CIPM4: £45 per hectare per year, over 3 years
- SFI26 pays the same rate.
Where you can do it
You can do this action on eligible agricultural land located below the moorland line. The table below sets out what land is eligible for IPM4.
Eligible land type Eligible land use code Compatible land cover Arable crops Arable land Arable land, excluding temporary grassland and fallow land Leguminous and nitrogen- Arable land fixing crops Permanent crops – horticultural Permanent crops Permanent crops and non-horticultural
The glossary (annex C) explains what we mean by land types, land use codes and compatible land covers.
The SFI application service will automatically calculate what area may be eligible for this action in each land parcel. This is called the ‘SFI available area’. You must check this area is an eligible land type. Find out how the SFI available area is calculated in the information on land that’s eligible for the SFI actions (section 4.1.2).
You can only apply for this action on the total SFI available area in each land parcel shown in your SFI application. You cannot apply for it on part of that area.
This action is rotational. You can do it on the same area of eligible land each year of your 3- year SFI agreement, or you can move the area each year.
