Make Use of Government Subsidies

With the list of measures being outlined for Scotland’s Agricultural Reform Programme and the release of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) Handbook 2023 stockfree organic farming methods look set to be rewarded more than ever. Practices which are very compatible with, or which are already the mainstay of stockfree organic farming are featured prominently as rewardable actions. These include using nitrogen (N) fixing legumes, providing continuous soil cover, not using fertilisers and pesticides, doing minimum/no tillage, avoiding monocultures, integrating alley cropping, making space for wildlife on the farm and much more. In the SFI Handbook, annual monetary rewards are given for each measure and to give a few examples, a legume fallow pays £593/ha, a multi-species winter cover crop pays £129/ha, and not using insecticides on arable or permanent crops pays £45/ha.