AHW7: Enhanced 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

£589 per hectare (ha) per year

Action’s aim

This action’s aim is that there’s a post-harvest stubble remaining during the autumn, winter, spring and summer months.

The purpose of this is to provide:
- a winter food source for seed-eating farmland birds
- spring and summer foraging and nesting habitats for other farmland birds, and habitats for other farmland wildlife
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 at risk of soil erosion or surface 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://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rural-payments-land-use-codes-2024/land-use-codes-2024) which 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 is a rotational action. This means you must move its location within your crop rotation for the second and third years of this action’s duration.

What to do

After harvest, you must leave the stubble from a cereal crop, oilseed rape or linseed until around mid-summer in the following year.

You must not apply pre-harvest desiccants to the cereal crop, oilseed rape or linseed.

You must not do the following on the stubble area:
- top or graze it
- apply any pesticides, except herbicides to control grass weeds by spraying the affected area from around mid-May
- apply any fertilisers, manures or lime
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 for you to do this action, you must start doing it within 12 months of the action’s start date.

In the final year of this action’s duration, you must do the action until around mid-summer 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 and 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 the right location

When you establish the cereal crop, oilseed rape or linseed, 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.

Enhanced overwinter stubbles are suitable for most soil types. On heavier soils, you can use this action to help control moderate to high populations of grass weeds (such as black-grass).

The best stubbles are usually produced by:
- spring sown crops (especially barley)
- crops managed with less inorganic nitrogen fertiliser and fewer herbicides
You can leave the unmanaged 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)).

It will help if you locate the overwinter stubbles in fields which have:
- low levels of black-grass and thistles
- arable plants in the soil seedbank, for natural insect-rich habitats for foraging farmland birds
- known nesting lapwing populations
- nearby areas of scrub which can provide foraging habitat for turtle doves
It’s usually best to locate strips of overwinter stubbles along south-facing boundaries. This will allow more beneficial weeds to grow, so more seeds are produced for birds to eat.

You can cultivate the stubbles area in March to help:
- create bare ground nesting plots for farmland birds
- encourage spring germinating rare arable flora
How to increase environmental benefits from the stubbles

To help to increase the environmental benefits provided by the overwinter stubbles, you can establish them:
- near to high-value habitats, such as hedgerows, scrub and woodland
- close to other seed-rich habitat
- in fields used by nesting lapwing or skylark
- close to areas of scrub which are suitable for nesting turtle dove
- on warm, sunny, south-facing headlands which support rare arable plants
- as larger blocks, so they feed larger flocks of seed-eating farmland birds for longer in the coldest months
You can sow a diverse mix of fast-growing crops into your stubbles before you harvest the crop (by undersowing a companion crop) or after harvest (to establish a cover crop). This can help to provide:
- 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
The crop mix could include:
- buckwheat
- crimson clover
- fodder radish
- mustard
- phacelia
To secure the right balance between outcomes for soil health, water quality and wildlife, it’s best to:
- establish the crop mix on no more than around half of the stubble area in each field
- not sow mixes on areas known to support rare arable plants
In fields known to support nesting farmland birds such as lapwing, it’s best to:
- only establish a cover crop on headlands
- leave an area unsown in the middle of the field – for example, around at least 2ha
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