AHW8: Whole crop spring cereals and overwinter stubble
Source: gov.uk (2025-03-27)

What you must do to get paid for this action and advice on how to do it.

This is an action in the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme: expanded offer for 2024. You must read the SFI scheme information (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sustainable-farming-incentive-scheme-expanded-offer-for-2024) to understand the scheme rules and how to apply.

Duration

3 years

How much you’ll be paid

£596 per hectare (ha) per year

Action’s aim

This action’s aim is that:
- a spring cereal crop is harvested as whole crop silage (grain and straw together)
- the stubble is left over the autumn and winter months
The purpose of this is to provide:
- late summer, autumn and winter foraging sites for declining and localised farmland birds, small mammals and pollinator species
- overwinter habitat for insects and seed-eating farmland birds
Where you can do this action

You can do this action on agricultural land located below the moorland line that’s:
- identified by you as not being a risk of soil erosion or runoff – you must keep evidence of this
- an eligible land type (as defined in section 5.1 ‘Eligible land types for SFI’ (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sustainable-farming-incentive-scheme-expanded-offer-for-2024/sfi-scheme-information-expanded-offer-for-2024) in the SFI scheme information)
- registered with an eligible land cover on your digital maps
- declared with a land use code (https://defra.sharepoint.com/teams/Team811/Admin/Forms/AllItems.aspx?ga=1&id=%2Fteams%2FTeam811%2FAdmin%2FFCP%20%2D%20Farming%20and%20Countryside%20Programme%2FContent%20Improvement%20and%20BAU%2FCombined%20offer%20CS%2DSFI%2FRobot%2DBefore%20and%20after%20action%20mandatory%20templates%2FActions%20for%20robotics%2FExtractedFiles&viewid=f47cba12%2D80ba%2D4dc8%2Dbb1e%2D2254713ad6ff) which is compatible with the eligible land cover
Eligible land

Eligibility of protected land

Available area you can enter into this action

Total or part of the available area in a land parcel.

Rotational or static action

This action is rotational or static. This means you can either:
- move its location for the second and third years of this action’s duration
- do it at the same location each year of this action’s duration
What to do

You must:
- establish a spring cereal crop (not maize or sorghum)
- harvest the cereal crop as whole crop silage
- remove the grain and straw from the land
- after harvest, leave the stubble over the autumn and winter months
As long as this action’s aim can reasonably be expected to be achieved, you can:
- undersow a seed mix into the spring cereal crop
- use a blend or mix of cereals
You must not apply insecticides to the spring cereal crop after around mid-March, until it’s harvested.

You must not do the following on the stubble area:
- top or graze it
- apply any fertilisers, manures or lime
You must not apply herbicides to the area entered into this action, apart from those containing the following permitted active ingredients:
- amidosulfuron
- clodinafop-propargyl
- fenoxaprop-P-ethyl
- pinoxaden
- tri-allate
It may not be possible for you to use these permitted active ingredients on all eligible crops. It’s your responsibility to confirm whether herbicides are approved for use on the affected crop.

You can use an existing spring cereal crop 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 action or option, such as Countryside Stewardship (CS) option AB7 (whole crop cereals)
When to do it

You must do this action each year of its 3-year duration.

If this action’s start date means it’s too late to establish the cereal crop, you must sow it within 12 months of this action’s start date.

In the final year of this action’s duration, you must do this action until the end of the winter months or this action’s end date, whichever is earlier.

How to do it

It’s up to you how you do this action, as long as you:
- follow this action’s requirements – these are identified by a ‘must’
- do the action in a way that could reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim
You may find it helpful to read the ‘advice to help you do this action’, but it’s not part of this action’s requirements.

Evidence to keep

You must keep written evidence that land entered into this action is not at risk of soil erosion or surface runoff. You can use the soil management plan produced for CSAM1 or SAM1 to identify this.

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
- photographs or 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 the evidence if we ask for it.

Other actions or options you can do on the same area as this action

You can do the following actions or options on the same area in a land parcel as this action.

Some actions or options can only be done on the same area if they’re done at a different time of year to this action. For example, winter cover followed by a summer companion crop. Read ‘What to do’ and ‘When to do it’ to find out when this action must be done.

If an action or option cannot be located on the same area, you may be able to do it on a different area in the same land parcel. Read section 6 ‘Eligible land in other funding schemes’ (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sustainable-farming-incentive-scheme-expanded-offer-for-2024/sfi-scheme-information-expanded-offer-for-2024) in the SFI scheme information for more details.

You can do the following actions or options on the eligible boundaries of a land parcel entered into this action:
- SFI 2024 actions: CHRW1, CHRW2, CHRW3, BND1, BND2 and WBD2
- SFI 2023 actions: HRW1, HRW2, HRW3
- CS option BE3 (management of hedgerows)
- the introductory level of the SFI pilot hedgerows standard
Advice to help you do this action

The following advice may help you to do this action, but it’s not part of this action’s requirements.

Choosing a spring cereal crop

It’s up to you which spring cereal crop (not maize or sorghum) to use for this action.

If you’re undersowing a seed mix into the spring cereal crop, you can sow it either:
- at the same time as the spring cereal crop, using a mix of cereal and companion crops (including pulse crops, such as field beans, lupins and combining peas)
- as a separate pass into the spring cereal crop
Undersowing the spring cereal crop with a flowering companion crop mix can provide flower and insect-rich foraging habitat for farmland birds and pollinator species.

If you’re using a blend or mix of cereals, it can include crops such as:
- barley
- oats
- red millet
- rye
- triticale
- wheat
- white millet
Choosing the right location

When you establish the spring cereal crop, by law you cannot cultivate or apply fertilisers or pesticides to land within 2m of the centre of a hedgerow. Read the guidance on Hedgerow management rules; buffer strips (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hedgerow-management-rules-buffer-strips#buffer-strip-rules) to understand how these rules apply to you.

You can do this action on most soil types, but it will usually work best on lighter, chalky and sandy free-draining soils that support spring cropping.

You can leave unmanaged overwinter stubbles across a whole field or a strip, if the land has been identified by you as not being at risk of soil erosion or surface runoff. You can do CSAM1 (assess soil, produce a soil management plan and test soil organic matter) to help you identify this.

You can have several areas of stubbles spread across your farm to link non-crop habitats (such as hedgerows, ponds and field margins). This can help wildlife to move between these habitats, especially in large fields (for example, over 20 hectares (ha)).

How to increase environmental benefits from the stubbles

You can manage your stubbles to deliver enhanced outcomes for soil health, water quality and wildlife.

Sowing a herbal ley or mix of flowering plants and grasses before (by undersowing) or after harvest can deliver:
- late season pollen and nectar for wild pollinators
- food and shelter for farmland birds over winter
- soil health and water quality benefits by reducing the risk of erosion and run-off
Try not to sow herbal leys, cover crops and other seed mixes in areas of fields known to support rare arable plants.

Other ways to enhance stubbles for farm wildlife include:
- carrying out winter supplementary feeding for farmland birds next to areas of winter bird food
- managing your preceding crop with less inorganic nitrogen fertiliser and fewer herbicides
- varying the height of the stubble by raising and lowering the combine header at harvest