CNUM3: Legume fallow
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 to understand the scheme rules and how to apply.
Duration
3 years
How much you’ll be paid
£593 per hectare (ha) per year
Action’s aim
This action’s aim is that there’s an established legume fallow with plants that:
- grow and flower from late spring and during the summer months
- provide green cover over the winter months
The purpose of this is to:
- manage nutrient efficiency and improved soil health
- provide food for farmland wildlife, such as pollen and nectar for pollinators and farmland birds
- support an integrated pest management approach by reducing grass weeds and, if located close to cropped areas, encourage natural crop pest predators
Where you can do this action
You can do this action on agricultural land located below the moorland line that’s:
- an eligible land type (read section 5.1 ‘Eligible land types for SFI’)
- registered with an eligible land cover on your digital maps
- declared with a land use code which is compatible with the eligible land cover
Eligible land
| Eligible land type | Eligible land cover | Compatible land use code |
|---|---|---|
| Arable land used to grow crops | Arable land | Land use codes for arable crops or leguminous and nitrogen-fixing crops |
| Temporary grassland | Arable land | TG01 |
| Arable land lying fallow | Arable land | FA01 |
| Permanent crops – horticultural | Permanent crops | TC01 |
Eligibility of protected land
| Protected land | Eligibility |
|---|---|
| Sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) | Eligible – you must get SSSI consent before you do this action (read section 5.5 ‘Land that’s a site of special scientific interest (SSSI)’) |
| Historic and archaeological features | Eligible – you must get a HEFER before you do this action (read section 5.6 ‘Land with historic or archaeological features’) |
Available area you can enter into this action
Total or part of the available area in a land parcel.
Rotational or static action
If you’re establishing a new legume fallow to meet this action, the action is static. This means you must do it at the same location each year of this action’s duration.
If you’re maintaining an existing legume fallow, this action is rotational or static. This means you can either:
- move its location for the second year of this action’s duration (and third year, depending on the timing of this action’s start date) and re-sow the mix
- do it at the same location each year of this action’s duration
What to do
You must establish a legume fallow on land entered into this action.
You must use a seed mix which contains at least 6 flowering species, including legumes. The seed mix can contain legumes such as:
- alsike clover
- bird’s foot trefoil
- black medick
- common vetch
- lucerne
The seed mix can also include:
- non-legume flower species
- grasses, such as cocksfoot or timothy, which can help to control blackgrass
You must avoid growing deep rooted legumes, such as lucerne, on any area in a land parcel that contains historic or archaeological features. These are identified in your HEFER.
Once the legume fallow is established (usually from the second spring after sowing), you must maintain it. To do this, you must manage it in a way, and for a period of time, that can reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim.
You must not do the following on the established legume fallow:
- graze it with livestock – if you want to do this you may want to consider action CSAM3 (herbal leys) instead which allows grazing activity
- use the area for regular vehicular access, turning or storage
- cut it, except to prevent blackgrass from setting seed or to control other annual grass weeds
- apply any fertilisers and manures
- apply pesticides, except for herbicides to weed wipe or spot treat to control injurious weeds, invasive non-native species, nettles or bracken
You can maintain an existing legume fallow 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 option, such as Countryside Stewardship (CS) option AB15 (two year sown legume fallow)
When to do it
If you’re establishing a new legume fallow to meet this action, you must:
- sow the mix by the autumn, within 12 months of this action’s start date
- maintain the mix at the same location for a period of time that can reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim – this will usually be until the end of the second summer after sowing
If you’re maintaining an existing legume fallow to meet this action, you must:
- maintain it for a period of time that can reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim – this will usually be until the end of the second summer after sowing
- re-sow the mix by the following autumn – either at the same location or a different location
If you want to establish a legume fallow in the spring and remove it in the summer during the same year, you should apply for spring-sown or summer-sown cover crops actions (SOH2 or SOH3).
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
Advice to help you do this action will be published before applications are fully launched from summer 2024. It will not be part of this action’s requirements.
Evidence to keep
You must keep evidence to show what you’ve done to complete this action, such as:
- field operations at a land parcel level and associated invoices, including details of the seed mix used
- 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.
| Scheme | Action or option codes |
|---|---|
| SFI 2024 actions | OFC3, OFC4, OFC5, OFM4, OFM5, AGF1, AGF2, PRF2, CIPM1, CNUM1, CSAM1 |
| SFI 2023 actions | IPM1, NUM1, SAM1 |
| CS options | OR3, OR4, OR5, OT3, OT4, OT5 |
| ES options | No ES revenue options |
| SFI pilot standards | No area-based SFI pilot standards |
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’ for more information.
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