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<p>Our overall assessment of the impacts of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)
on yields, productivity and domestic food production is based on a review of quantitative
and qualitative evidence. SFI is designed to support farmers in managing their land
in an environmentally sustainable way. Many SFI actions are designed to be undertaken
alongside their agricultural operations and do not require land be taken out of production.
Some actions within SFI are likely to take small areas of often marginally productive
land out of production, lowering overall output for the farm in the short term. In
the longer term this is likely to be offset by long term improvements in soil health
and pollinator abundance which will support increased yields. Some actions in SFI
will also reduce the need for fertilisers or pesticides leading to lower inputs and
higher productivity. SFI, along with other schemes in the wider farming and countryside
programme (including for example the Farming Resilience Fund, the Farming Investment
Fund and the Farming Innovation Programme) will collectively support increases in
agricultural productivity over the agricultural transition. Overall, this should allow
participating farmers to broadly maintain long-run food production and to meet the
objective, set out on the Food Strategy, of maintaining national food production at
current levels.</p>
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