This is a subscriber-only article
The £45m soil nutrient health scheme starts this winter, with farmers in Zone 1, covering Down and east Armagh, given to 31 August to register.
With a slow initial uptake, that deadline was moved from the original date of 8 July 2022, and while over two-thirds of eligible farmers have now registered for the scheme, the appetite has not been what was expected.
On the face of it, registering is a no-brainer. On offer is free soil analysis across the farm, identifying fields that are low in pH, as well as the nutrient status.
Regular soil analysis should be a cornerstone for all farm businesses.
The other big incentive relates to a DAERA decision that eligibility for future farm support will be conditional on taking part in the soil scheme.
In particular, farmers will have to join up if they want to avail of a new area-based sustainability payment, a new beef sustainability package, and a new Farming with Nature programme to replace the Environmental Farming Scheme.
With the new area-based sustainability payment to initially take the bulk of support funding, farmers who don’t take part in the soil scheme are essentially indicating a willingness to forego future direct payments.
Reality
So what is going on? The reality is that for some larger, relatively intensive farm businesses, direct payments make up a small fraction of overall turnover and these payments bring hassle they could do without.
For example, a 220ac dairy farm producing 1m litres probably has turnover approaching £0.5m, with direct payments around £25,000 (5% of turnover).
Others simply don’t trust DAERA, despite assurances from Minister Poots that the soil data will not be used for regulatory purposes. And the prospect of getting soil carbon results as part of the scheme is of little interest. The recent willingness of many NI politicians to sacrifice farming on the back of unrealistic greenhouse gas targets has made the job of getting farmers enthused about carbon audits much more difficult.
But farmers who opt out of the soil scheme should also carefully consider what message that sends. A DAERA inspector may well be left wondering what there is to hide.
SHARING OPTIONS: