If you are farming in England and have entered any of your land into a Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreement, or you are planning to, Soilmentor can be used to support you to gather and categorise your evidence for the actions on soils - SAM1, SAM2 & SAM3. We have also worked to build custom recording options for the MOR1 action for Moorland farmers - get in touch with us at [email protected] if you would like these added to your account.

Please note that the requirements for SFI are regularly updated, so it is important to check which year’s guidance you need to follow, and adapt your inputs accordingly. The following guidance is based on the 2024 requirements.

SAM1: Assess soil, produce a soil management plan and test SOM

For this action, the SFI handbook specifies that you must:

• Assess the soil for all the land parcels entered into this action and produce a written soil management plan which covers that land
• Test the soil organic matter (SOM) on all the land parcels entered into this action within the last 5 years

How can Soilmentor support?

SAM2: Multi-species cover crop

For this action, the SFI handbook specifies that you must establish and maintain a well-established multi-species cover crop over the winter months on land entered into this action.

To establish the multi-species cover crop you must sow a mix containing at least 2 species from one or more of these plant families:

• Brassicae • Legumes • Grass or cereals • Herbs

The exact mix can be chosen to work for your farm context.

How can Soilmentor support?

SAM3: Herbal leys

For this action, the SFI handbook specifies that you must establish and maintain herbal leys with a mixture of grasses, legumes, and herbs on the land entered into this action.

How can Soilmentor support?