As growers continue to face increasing agronomic and environmental pressures, the value of cover and companion cropping is clearer than ever. These practices not only support sustainable farming systems but also deliver real performance benefits across the rotation – improving soil health, nutrient efficiency, and pest management.

Establishing a cover crop over the winter months helps minimise nutrient leaching and erosion, whilst also benefitting soil structure and biology. Companion cropping offers a strategic way to enhance crop resilience and field performance. They can act as a trap crop for pests, help suppress weeds, protect soils and increase nutrient efficiency, as well as provide improved habitat for wildlife.

There are various options for SFI-eligible crops for integrated pest management CIPM3 – companion crops on arable and horticultural land, worth £55/ha for those already accepted into the scheme, such as;

• Clover understories
• Cereal with Crimson/Berseem clover
• Oilseed with Berseem clover/Fenugreek
• Trap crops to divert pest activity
• Undersown maize
• Cereals undersown with grass

Companion cropping with Oilseeds
Companion plants are sown alongside a primary crop to improve its agronomic behaviour. Some of the benefits of growing a legume-based companion crop with oilseed rape are:

• Improve the oilseed rape yield
• To ensure an improved Nitrogen supply in late winter by combining it with selected N fixing legumes (typically, 30-40 units of N/ha after destruction)
• Help reduce weed competition
• To help improve soil aeration in the top 20cm of the soil
• Insect attack rate is consistently lower in the presence of a companion crop, especially in Autumn, where egg-laying activity is disrupted
• Sensitivity to diseases specific to oilseed rape, such as sclerotinia and club root, does not increase when companion crops are used

As with any crops, fields containing high weed pressure are not suitable for companion cropping, as the combination of weeds and companion crop will inhibit the oilseed plants.
Vetch and berseem clovers are easy to drill and will create rapid soil coverage and good Autumn plant development, maximising biomass potential. They can produce excellent Nitrogen replenishment for the oilseed rape plants after crop destruction. Fenugreek may offer some repellence against insect pests.

When should I sow/terminate?
The best companion crops are sown in August; the earlier the better as to increase frost sensitivity of the companion crop and to get the crop to the most advanced stage. Some companion crops can be drilled 2 weeks earlier, allowing drilling of the oilseed rape seed into a standing companion crop. In a typical winter, the companion crop should be killed by winter frosts.

SFI Mixture Options

• Multispecies Cover Crop
• • Fast-growing short term cover crop mixture, for sowing in Spring or Summer
  • Produces high levels of organic matter
  • Includes a range of species with differing rooting depths to benefit soil structure
  • Good canopy to protect the soil surface and minimise soil run-off
  • Includes; White Mustard, Buckwheat, Common Vetch, Crimson Clover

• Sow at 20kg/ha, April-Aug Suitable for SOH2, SOH3
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Lift N Fix

• • 80% Humbolt Forage Rye – fast-growing, lifts and holds Nitrogen preventing leaching, forms dense cover
  • 20% Vetch – fixes Nitrogen ready for the subsequent crop
  • Helps penetrate compacted soils and provides excellent weed smothering properties
  • Perfect for sowing after cereals

Sow at 70-80kg/ha, Sept-Oct Suitable for CSAM3, SOH4

This article is featured in the June 2025 edition of GatePost.  Click here to read the full edition.

The introduction of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) in 2023 has led to a significant increase in farmland being sown, with crops designed to benefit wildlife, particularly farmland birds and pollinators.

Whilst the key SFI actions have remained unchanged in their core aims since their introduction, there are some changes to be aware of, as well as some new actions introduced as part of the SFI 24 expanded offer, which may need to be considered when looking to sow this year.

AHL1/CAHL1

Pollen and nectar flower mix
The primary aims of sowing a pollen and nectar mixture are to provide a food source for beneficial pollinators and to encourage natural pest predators. Selecting a mix that includes legumes such as red clover, birdsfoot trefoil and sainfoin will also fix atmospheric nitrogen, increasing fertility for the following crop. The inclusion of species such as phacelia, with its very fibrous root system, will help with soil conditioning.

Growers with later agreements (with code CAHL1) need to be aware that the rules around when to carry out the action have been modified, to rule out the possibility of sowing in spring and entering into an autumn sown crop in the same year. The mix must now be maintained “until the end of the second summer after sowing” to ensure the aims are met.

AHL2/CAHL2

Winter bird food on arable and horticultural land

Winter bird food has proved incredibly popular with around 70,000 Ha being entered into the action so far. The aims are to provide food for birds, especially in late autumn and winter, encourage flowering plants in the summer to benefit insects and pollinators, and to support an integrated pest management approach.

For newer agreements (with code CAHL2), changes have been made to the rules to further clarify when the mixture can be sown and how long it needs to be maintained for. Spring sown mixtures should be maintained until the end of February the following year. However, mixtures sown after the end of June must be maintained for two consecutive winters, effectively making it an 18-month option. Growers looking for something autumn sown may now want to look towards the Bumblebird action.

AHW1

Bumblebird mix

Bumblebird is a new action introduced as part of the expanded SFI24 offer but is very similar to the Countryside Stewardship option of the same name. Worth £747/Ha, Bumblebird pays less than the winter bird food action, but it has a useful place in the rotation as it can be sown up until early Autumn, to be maintained until the end of summer the following year. As the name suggests, the aim of the action is to provide food for both farmland birds and beneficial insects and pollinators.

For further information about crops to meet the aims of the Sustainable Farming Incentive, please download a copy of the LG Essential Guide to Conservation and Gamecover Crops

Many growers are now getting to grips with the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), and whilst most actions requiring a seed purchase are likely to be sown in the spring, many of the more profitable actions can also fit an autumn sowing window.

The four actions below are likely to feature in most agreements:

AHL2: Winter bird food on arable and horticultural land

AHL2 has proved to be a hugely popular action this spring, as growers have looked to make the most of the attractive payment rate (£853/Ha) and later sowing period. This action can also be autumn sown, but there are more considerations at this timing, to ensure the terms of the agreement are met. The primary aim of the action is to produce a supply of small seeds from late autumn until late winter. It may be tempting to establish a mixture this autumn, with the view to following with a spring crop next year, but an autumn sown mixture of any species is highly unlikely to produce sufficient seed in such a short time and so will not achieve this aim. Any mix sown at this time effectively needs to last 18 months, with flowering plants in the summer of 2025 that produce seed in the winter of 2025/26.

We have two mixtures well suited to autumn sowing. Magnet and Bumblebird. Magnet is an economical mix based around winter triticale and linseed, with flowering brassicas and phacelia.

Bumblebird offers more benefits with a greater range of seed-bearing species and the inclusion of legumes such as red clover, crimson clover and vetch, which will also fix nitrogen for the subsequent crop.

IPM2: Flower-rich grass margins, blocks or in-field strips

Although not quite the highest paying option, at £798/Ha, IPM2 has the potential to offer the highest net margin of any options suited to autumn drilling. The action is rotational but to maximise profitability and to ensure the aims are properly met, the chosen seed mix should ideally be down for the full three years of the agreement. Our Flower-rich margin mixture includes 15 native, UK produced wildflower species, combined with 7 species of slow growing amenity grasses, chosen to give the wildflowers the greatest chance of successful establishment.

AHL1: Pollen and nectar flower mix

AHL1 is another action with an attractive payment rate of £739/Ha.

Our Bee mix is the product to choose to meet the aims of producing areas of flowering plants from late spring and during the summer months. As well as providing food for pollinators and encouraging natural pest predators, this mix has high levels of nitrogen fixing legumes and phacelia, which is a great soil conditioner. The possible drawback of this action is that opportunities to manage any potential problem weeds are limited. Growers hoping to reduce blackgrass populations for example, will likely find the rules on grazing and cutting too restrictive to successfully manage the weed.

NUM3: Legume fallow

NUM3 has a slightly lower payment rate than the others mentioned here, at £593/Ha, but it has some key benefits that potentially make up for the lower rate. Unlike AHL2, IPM2 and AHL1, where the maximum area entered into the actions is restricted to 25% of the farm, there is no area limit with NUM3. There is also greater freedom to cut the mix, to help prevent blackgrass from seeding, making this action preferable to AHL1 in high blackgrass situations.

We have two mixture options for this action; Legume 2 or Legume 2 grass free. Both contain a similar range of legumes to fix nitrogen, improve soil health and provide food for wildlife and pollinators, but the Legume 2 contains 66% perennial ryegrass. The ryegrass within the mix helps build soil organic matter levels, but is also better able to compete with weed species and will help smother blackgrass, again helping to reduce populations. Both of these mixtures would be suitable if you choose to rotate the action each year, but the benefits to both soil and blackgrass suppression will be greater if the mix is kept down for 2 or 3 years (the duration of the agreement).

January 2023 saw six new Sustainable Farm Incentive (SFI) standards published, to add to the three existing standards introduced in 2022.

These new standards add a further 19 “actions” that aim to encourage sustainable practices and importantly, increase the number of ways farmers in England can help mitigate the reduction in Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments.

For arable farmers, it’s likely that one of the “actions” with the biggest uptake will be to “Establish and maintain a legume fallow”, as its aims and benefits are virtually identical to the already popular “AB15: Two-year sown legume fallow” option in Countryside Stewardship.

The action pays £593/Ha (the same as AB15) and aims to provide food for pollinators and farmland birds whilst helping to support an integrated pest management (IPM) approach. We know from experience with AB15 that sowing a seed mixture such as LG Legume 2 which meets the required specification, can be a great tool to help reduce blackgrass populations, increase fertility, soil organic matter (SOM) and improve soil structure.

Ensuring these benefits are realised to their full does, however, require the same attention to detail as any other crop.

Reducing blackgrass populations is reliant on ensuring that no new seed is shed for the 2-year duration of the mixture. Under both schemes, the mix can be cut for the purpose of controlling blackgrass which in practice will be 2-3 mowings, timed so that the blackgrass has headed and flowered, but not yet produced viable seed. With correct management, the blackgrass seed bank can be expected to reduce by 70-80% per year.

The legumes within the mix will of course fix atmospheric nitrogen, so there’s no need to apply any fertiliser and there should be significant residual nitrogen remaining for the following crop. It is, however, worth thinking further ahead as ideally there should be a 5-year gap before any pulses are grown, to avoid potential foot rot or nematode issues.

Mixture choice is also very important. The legume fallow mixture can be selected with or without grass (perennial ryegrass), with the correct choice coming down to individual circumstances. A mix with grass will more successfully smother both blackgrass and broad-leaved weeds, and is likely to contribute more SOM than without. Mowing the mixture to control blackgrass will also ensure that no ryegrass seed is returned to the soil, but those without blackgrass problems may be best with a no grass mixture, to avoid future problems with weed ryegrass.

Whichever mix is chosen, sowing should happen as soon as possible after harvest – ideally in August, to make the most of warm soil temperatures.

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The are 3 levels of payment for the Arable and Horticultural standard:

• Introductory level – 70% of land must have a sown green cover or weedy stubble over the winter months (Dec-Feb)
• Intermediate level – 70% of land must have a green cover crop during the winter months, of which 20% must be sown with a multi species cover crop
• Advanced level – details to be announced in 2023

 

The use of green manures, catch and cover crops will help to:

• Enhance the natural health and fertility of our soils
• Contribute to our efforts to reach Net Zero

Fodder radish has deep roots & good biomass

 

There are many species of catch and cover crops to choose from; fodder radishes such as Romesa, have good biomass and are very deep rooting to help compacted soils.

White mustard is another useful cover crop – Severka is fast growing and if sown early, can produce bags of biomass in a short period of time.

Multi species seeds mixtures such as Green Reward are also useful, and contain 7 species to comply with the Intermediate level.

Lift N Fix contains vetch, along with Humbolt winter rye. This mixture is a highly effective nitrogen lifter and provides great cover, which helps suppress weeds before incorporation into the soil.