SFI integrated pest management: actions, agreement versions and evidence

If you already hold an agreement, begin with its version and selected action codes. An older IPM-plan article and a new SFI26 action description can concern different agreement terms. Use this page to organise the correct documents and practical evidence beside your treatment history.

Establish which agreement you are working under

Read the agreement document in the Rural Payments service and identify its start date. RPA’s SFI24 holder guidance says an agreement comprises that document, the applicable terms and conditions, and the relevant versions of the selected actions. The guidance version depends on the agreement’s start date; its page provides separate routes for different SFI24 cohorts.

Make an index containing the agreement reference, scheme generation, start date, selected actions and land-parcel references. Save the applicable action wording with that index. This gives the farm manager, agent and contractor a shared starting point when discussing field work, without expecting everyone to reconstruct the paperwork from an email chain.

CIPM1’s removal is a change to the SFI26 offer. Defra’s action table lists the planning action as removed while retaining the habitat, companion-crop and no-insecticide actions. That table is not a direction to delete an existing agreement’s plan or replace its terms with the latest website headings. Follow the holder route for the agreement you actually have.

Keep a separate note for questions you want the RPA to answer. Include the agreement reference and action version in that correspondence. “Which IPM rules apply?” is easier to resolve when accompanied by the exact agreement and parcel involved.

Compare the three SFI26 IPM actions

The individual current pages for CIPM2, CIPM3 and CIPM4 provide the action-specific routes.

The current action descriptions establish the aims and identify parcel-level operations, invoices and photographs or other documents as evidence. The table is an organising aid; the action text supplies the conditions for the area entered into your agreement.

The action eligibility tables distinguish registered land cover from compatible land-use codes. For CIPM3 they identify temporary grassland, arable fallow and horticultural permanent crops among the listed categories. Compare the digital-map classification and declared use with the relevant row before drafting the parcel instruction. Keep the description of the companion-cropping activity connected to the actual mapped land, rather than assuming that any agricultural location is automatically eligible.

Give each evidence item a recognisable parcel and action reference. For photographs, use a filename or accompanying note identifying the place and observation date. For invoices, mark which material or operation relates to the action. Preserve the original document rather than replacing it with an untraceable total in a summary spreadsheet.

CIPM2: keep the habitat management evidence

CIPM2 concerns an established multi-annual flower-rich grass mixture in margins, blocks or strips. The aim includes flowering through spring and summer into early autumn, with habitat and foraging resources for invertebrates and birds. The action links proximity to cropped areas with support for natural crop-pest predators.

The requirements address establishment and continuing management. They also restrict pesticide applications on established areas, with a specified exception for certain targeted herbicide treatments. Read that exception in the action wording before planning work near a margin; a general field-spraying instruction does not describe the entered habitat area.

For your working map, distinguish the cropped portion from the margin, block or strip. Give the feature an identifiable name in the job brief and retain the seed-mixture paperwork. Ask the person carrying out maintenance to record the actual operation and the area involved. This makes later evidence easier to retrieve without turning a whole-field description into a misleading account of a narrow feature.

CIPM2 belongs to the limited-area actions. The current guidance limits their combined eligible area to 25% of the farm’s total agricultural area. Assess that combination using the scheme rules and the other actions on the holding, rather than considering a single margin in isolation.

CIPM3: identify the companion and the main crop

CIPM3 requires a companion crop growing with a main arable or horticultural crop. The action describes trap cropping, inter-cropping and undersowing as establishment approaches. The companion need not remain throughout the main crop’s entire growing period, provided management can reasonably achieve the action’s aim and purpose.

Record the main crop, companion identity, establishment method and actual sowing operation together. If different people establish the main crop and companion, connect their records by parcel and season. Retain the relevant invoices and photographs in the action folder. A seed delivery alone describes a purchase; the field-operation entry explains what happened on the land.

The action’s purposes include supporting IPM, providing habitat, managing nutrient efficiency and protecting soil. When preparing your own management note, describe the chosen purpose and observation plan in practical terms. Keep that explanation distinct from claims about a guaranteed yield response or pest-control result.

When a companion crop is not apparent during a later visit, use the dated establishment and management record to explain the sequence. Avoid creating a retrospective sowing entry from an invoice date. Ask the person responsible for the operation to supply the actual information and retain any correction with its explanation.

CIPM4: read the crop and insecticide exclusions carefully

For SFI26, CIPM4 excludes maize. The current action description explicitly says that this eligibility change applies to SFI26 agreements and not to existing SFI24 or SFI23 agreements. Identify the scheme generation before answering a maize question from an older article or a neighbouring farm’s experience.

The no-insecticide requirement includes insecticide seed dressings, nematicides, acaricides and other insecticides described in the action. It allows herbicides, fungicides and plant growth regulators under the action, subject to the separate conditions governing those products. “No insecticide” and “no plant protection products of any kind” describe different scopes.

Check seed information as part of the crop file, as well as the later spray history. Ask the supplier or agronomist to identify relevant treatments from the actual seed paperwork. Keep the supporting answer with the parcel record so the person reviewing the no-insecticide action can trace the basis of the decision.

For an arable crop, the action describes the relevant cash crop and its sowing-to-harvest period. For permanent crops, the action is static and applies at the same location through its duration. The detailed action text sets out the timing and exclusions; use the crop-specific section when preparing instructions.

A blank spray-diary page alone does not explain the entire crop history. Assemble the field-operation evidence, seed information and contractor records that describe the entered land. Give an operator a written brief identifying the parcel and agreed restrictions before issuing a job instruction.

Keep a practical inspection folder

The SFI26 actions require evidence showing what was done and require its supply if the authority asks. Their examples include field operations at parcel level, associated invoices and photographs or other documentation. CIPM2 additionally identifies details of the seed mix used.

A useful folder structure follows the agreement, action and parcel. Include the applicable action description, area reference, establishment evidence, later management notes and correspondence about changes. Name a person who can retrieve each item. This is an editorial filing suggestion, not an additional government form.

Rehearse one request by selecting a parcel and following its evidence from the agreement to the field record. Can someone outside the day-to-day work identify the relevant crop, operation and supporting invoice? Resolve inconsistent field names and photographs with unclear locations while the people involved still remember the context.

Keep any adviser’s suggestions distinguishable from mandatory action wording when adding them to your own checklist. The evidence requirements belong to the particular action entered into the agreement.

Current application status and support

Defra says SFI26 Window 2 closed on 22 September 2026. Its subsequent 15 October 2026 update extended the technical-issue exception arrangements for specific affected applicants and described RPA assessment of supporting evidence. Use the October update alongside the closure notice; the September description alone does not give the latest exception position.

The updated arrangements concern defined affected applicants, including particular technical issues reported within the stated period. They are not a general reopening. The RPA says it will write to farmers and agents after assessing whether they fall within an exception group. Keep the actual correspondence with the application record.

For a technical-issue enquiry, prepare the submitted application reference, affected parcel or action, dates of the attempted transaction and copies of the messages already sent. Describe the specific selection or system failure rather than treating every unavailable action combination as a software fault. Defra explains that some reported cases involved combinations that the scheme rules did not permit.

This review does not provide a new 2027 opening date or assume that later offers retain today’s action conditions. If your immediate task is an existing agreement, work from its holder information and RPA correspondence. If you are preparing for a future opportunity, label that work as preparation rather than a submitted or accepted application.

Connect scheme evidence with the actual spraying record

Use the parcel reference to connect the scheme folder with the diary and contractor handover. A companion-crop establishment note, a margin photograph and a pesticide application describe different events, even when they concern the same field. Preserve each event’s identity so an inspection file can explain the sequence.

For product-document retrieval, continue with the HSE GB pesticides register guide. Use contract-sprayer records to organise information from another business and spray record keeping for the completed application history.

Read payment figures with the action and agreement version

The current SFI26 action descriptions give annual hectare rates of £798 for CIPM2, £55 for CIPM3 and £45 for CIPM4, each with a three-year action duration. These figures describe the specified SFI26 actions; they are not a quotation for carrying out the work or evidence of an accepted application.

For a budget discussion, write the action code, eligible entered area and agreement version beside the rate. Keep establishment costs, seed purchases, contractor charges and subsequent maintenance separately identifiable in your own costing. Avoid presenting the farm’s full parcel area as the payable area if only a strip or block is entered.

Prepare the CIPM2 seed-mixture specification

CIPM2 specifies at least four grass species, excluding ryegrass, making up no more than 90% of the mixture by weight. It also specifies at least ten wildflower species, with no individual flower species exceeding 25% of the wildflower element by weight. Keep the supplier’s mixture specification and the actual material invoice together so those two kinds of percentage remain distinguishable.

Copy the mixture’s identity into the establishment note. If a supplier substitutes a component, retain the revised specification and ask the person responsible for the action to review it. A bag label, invoice and sowing record describe complementary pieces of evidence. Preserve the relationship rather than treating a generic description such as “wildflower seed” as a complete mixture specification.

Distinguish protected-land permissions and optional advice

The action descriptions include separate eligibility sections for sites of special scientific interest and historic or archaeological features. For SSSI land they describe notice to Natural England and consent before carrying out the action, with the SFI26 requirements also addressing consent before an agreement offer. They identify an SFI Historic Environment Farm Environment Record, or HEFER, for land with historic or archaeological features.

Identify any such feature on the relevant parcel before sending a contractor an establishment instruction. Keep the applicable permission or historic-environment information beside the action plan. For CIPM3, the wording specifically requires avoiding deep-rooted companion species on areas with identified historic or archaeological features. Read that parcel-specific information when choosing the companion.

The official action pages distinguish requirements marked by “must” from voluntary advice. The scheme rules likewise explain that optional advice is not part of an action’s requirements. In your office checklist, label an adviser’s suggested improvement separately from a condition attached to the agreement. This helps an incoming colleague understand the reason for each instruction and the authority behind it.