NUM1 - Assess nutrient management and produce a review report
Payment
You’ll receive £652 for the assessment and review report per year.
Aim
This action aims to help you assess your current nutrient usage and effectively plan how to:
- Manage your nutrient usage more efficiently and effectively.
- Optimize your use of organic sources of crop nutrition.
Where You Can Do This Action
You can do this action on all agricultural land located below the moorland line.
NUM1 is an agreement-level SFI action, meaning that you do not enter specific land areas for this action. The assessment and nutrient management review report should cover all relevant areas of your farm.
Once you've included this action in an SFI agreement, you cannot apply for it again until that 3-year agreement ends and cannot apply for it in multiple SFI agreements.
To apply for this action, at least 1 land parcel needs to be linked to your Single Business Identifier (SBI), so it shows on your digital maps in the Rural Payments service.
Other Land Management Actions or Options You Can Do with NUM1
The table below outlines the SFI actions, CS management options, ES revenue options, and SFI pilot standards compatible with NUM1, given that the "Where You Can Do This Action" requirements are met.
Table 21: Actions or options that can be done with NUM1
| Scheme | Action or option codes that can be done with NUM1 |
|---|---|
| SFI 2023 | All SFI actions, except MOR1 |
| CS | All CS options |
| ES | All ES options |
| SFI pilot | All SFI pilot standards |
What To Do
You must arrange for a member of the BASIS Professional Register who’s qualified under the Fertiliser Advisers Certification and Training Scheme (a ‘FACTS qualified adviser’) to visit your farm to:
- Assess your current nutrient use and needs for your farm.
- Identify and discuss opportunities to increase efficiency of your nutrient usage, and maximize the use of natural sources of crop nutrients on that land.
- Help you produce a written nutrient management (NM) review report.
You are responsible for making sure that the FACTS qualified adviser does what's required above.
If you’re a FACTS qualified adviser, you can complete this action yourself.
If you have a written NM review report (from the last 12 months), informed by an NM assessment from a FACTS qualified adviser, you can use it to meet this action.
If you need to take soil samples on areas within a land parcel containing historic or archaeological features, including scheduled monuments, you must:
- request an SFI Historic Environment Farm Environment Record (SFI HEFER), as explained in the information about historic and archaeological features (section 4.3.2)
- meet the requirements for taking soil samples on these areas, as explained in the information about completing SFI actions on land containing historic and archaeological features (section 4.3.2)
When To Do It
You must make sure that a FACTS qualified adviser visits your farm to:
- Complete the NM assessment and help you produce a written NM review report within the first 12 months of your SFI agreement.
- Reassess your nutrient use and needs for your land and review your NM review report in each subsequent year of your SFI agreement.
How to Do It
The specific method of completion is up to you, as long as it achieves the action’s aim.
You may find voluntary guidance on how to complete a nutrient management assessment and produce a review report helpful, but you do not have to follow it.
What Evidence to Keep
You must keep:
- A written record of your NM review report, including the NM assessment.
- Proof that the adviser is a FACTS qualified adviser, such as their name and BASIS or FACTS registration number.
You must supply this evidence if we ask for it.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: SFI Handbook for the SFI 2023 Offer