IPM4 - No Use of Insecticide on Arable Crops and Permanent Crops

Payment

You’ll receive £45 per hectare per year.

Aim

This action aims to prevent the use of plant protection products containing insecticide. The purpose of this is to:

• Support an IPM approach by managing crop pests in a more sustainable way.
• Improve water and air quality.
• Increase biodiversity.

Where You Can Do This Action

You can do this action on eligible agricultural land located below the moorland line. The table below sets out what land is eligible for IPM4.

Table 19: Eligible land for IPM4

Eligible land type	Eligible land use code	Compatible land cover
Arable land, excluding temporary grassland and fallow land	Arable crops	Arable land
	Leguminous and nitrogen-fixing crops	Arable land
Permanent crops – horticultural and non-horticultural	Permanent crops	Permanent crops

The glossary (annex C) explains what we mean by land types, land use codes and compatible land covers.

The SFI application service will automatically calculate what area may be eligible for this action in each land parcel. This is called the ‘SFI available area’. You must check this area is an eligible land type. Find out how the SFI available area is calculated in the information on land that’s eligible for the SFI actions (section 4.1.2).

You can only apply for this action on the total SFI available area in each land parcel shown in your SFI application. You cannot apply for it on part of that area.

This action is rotational. You can do it on the same area of eligible land each year of your 3-year SFI agreement, or you can move the area each year.

Other Land Management Actions or Options You Can Do on the Same Area as IPM4

The table below sets out which other SFI actions, CS management options, ES revenue options and SFI pilot standards can be located on the same eligible area within a land parcel as IPM4.

Table 20: Actions or options that can be located on the same area within a land parcel as IPM4

Scheme	Action or option codes that can be located on the same area as IPM4
SFI 2023	SAM1, SAM2, IPM1, IPM3, NUM1, AHL2
CS	Arable CS options: AB1, AB2, AB4, AB5, AB8, AB9, AB15, AB16 Historic environment CS options: HS3, HS9 Organic CS options: OP1, OP2, OP5, OR3, OR4, OR5, OT3, OT4, OT5 Water quality CS options: SW5, SW6, SW17
ES	No ES revenue options
SFI pilot	SFI pilot arable and horticultural land standard – all levels SFI pilot arable and horticultural soils standard – all levels

(*the other Arable CS options not contained in the table above prohibit the use of insecticides as part of the CS option, so cannot be located on the same area as IPM4 as they’re either incompatible or you’d be paid twice for doing the same activity)

Use the CS grant finder to search for the CS option codes shown above.

The SFI actions for hedgerows (HRW1, HRW2 and HRW3),CS option BE3 and the introductory level of the SFI pilot hedgerows standard can be done on the eligible boundaries of a land parcel entered into IPM4.

If an action or option cannot be located on the same area within a land parcel as IPM4, this is because it’s not an eligible land type, or the activities are incompatible, or you would be paid twice for doing the same activities on the same land. In this case, that area will be automatically removed from the affected land parcel’s SFI available area in your SFI application.

If this is the case, you may be able to do the action on a different area in the same land parcel if:

• it’s an eligible land type for the action or option
• it’s a part-parcel action or option
• the area used for the action or option does not overlap with the area used for IPM4

Read the information about eligibility of land used for other schemes and funding sources (section 4.2) to find out more.

What To Do

You must not apply any plant protection products, including seed dressings, containing insecticide on land entered into this action. For the purposes of this action, insecticide includes nematicides and acaricides.

You can apply other plant protection products such as herbicides, fungicides or plant growth regulators, but not insecticides.

If something happens which means you cannot complete this action, you must tell us about this as soon as possible. Read the information about what happens if you find you cannot comply with your agreement (section 5.3.3).

When to Do It

You must do this action each year of your 3-year SFI agreement.

How to Do It

It’s up to you how you complete this action, as long as you do it in a way that can reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim.

You may find it helpful to read the voluntary guidance on how to manage arable and horticultural crops without using insecticide, but you do not have to follow it.

What Evidence to Keep

You should keep evidence to show what you’ve done to complete this action. This will help if it’s not clear that you’ve completed the action in a way that could reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim. You must supply this evidence if we ask for it.

This evidence could include photographs and other documentation to show what you’ve done to complete this action. It could also include field operations at a land parcel level and associated invoices. If you choose to take photographs, read the guidance on how to take photographic evidence (annex A).

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: SFI Handbook for the SFI 2023 Offer