): SFI Hedgerow Standards - Cutting & Management

Cutting and Managing Hedgerows under SFI

This content was published in good faith on 10th November 2024. While we strive to keep our information accurate and current, agricultural practices and recommendations may evolve. For the latest guidance and advice tailored to your specific needs, please contact your local Agrii representative.

They are probably one of the parts of your farm and land that you pay the least attention to.

Compared to managing livestock, ploughing, planting and harvesting and everything else that you have to do on the farm on a daily basis – it is unlikely that managing hedgerows is top of your list.

But it is worth paying a little more attention to, as a well-placed and well-maintained hedgerow can have a myriad of benefits for the land, environment, wildlife and, now for you, financially.

The saying ‘money grows on trees’ might just be true after all. However, in all seriousness, there are a number of reasons why Cutting and Managing Hedgerows is an SFI action.

By maintaining hedgerows under SFI you are, in the first instance, helping to preserve that character of the countryside. When people talk about views of a patchwork quilt of fields - hedgerows, boundaries and walls are the essence of that.

Beyond that, hedgerows provide shelter and nesting cover, as well as flower and berry food resources for insects, birds and mammals. They also provide shelter from wind and weather elements for livestock and crops, which can help improve productivity in the long term.

Hedges can be part of an integrated pest management approach but, they are also a key part of increasing resilience to climate change and contribute to improving local air quality.

This resilience to climate change has been proved when it comes to extreme flooding, which is becoming a more common occurrence. You will see vast plains flooded on a regular basis but fields with hedgerows can fare better as they act as a buffer for rainfall run off and soak up water in their roots.

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Hedgerow Standards under SFI

There are three actions under the SFI Hedgerow standards. They are HRW1: Assess and record hedgerow condition, HRW2: Manage hedgerows and HRW3: Maintain or establish hedgerow trees.

In this article we will take a closer look at each of these three actions, what you need to do to meet the requirements and, of course, what benefit this can bring to your farm both environmentally and financially.

Hedgerow Assessment

The HRW1: Assess and record hedgerow condition action is designed to get you to understand the condition of hedgerows on your land and to plan how they can be managed to improve their condition.

You can do this action on one side or both sides of an eligible hedgerow and will be paid £5 per 100 metres for one side of an eligible hedgerow per year.

The requirements are that you assess the condition of all the hedgerows entered into this action and produce a written hedgerow condition assessment record for them – there’s more detail on how to do this below.

If you’ve already done this within the last five years you can use that document for this purpose too. If you are preparing one from scratch, it must be completed within the first 12 months of your SFI agreement.

Assessing Hedgerow Condition

There is no set or standard format for assessing the condition of hedgerows and it can take the form of a survey.

While that may seem a little vague, the freedom in how to do this is beneficial as it means you can do this survey at any time of year. A good time to do it might be winter when there is less foliage and you can see more of the hedge and better understand its condition.

Other information to include in the assessment is the start and end points of the hedgerow, any major structural changes in it, whether it meets any walls or woodland, average height and width and also if it has got any gaps in it.

Again, when it comes to putting it all on paper and submitting the information, there are a number of ways that this is possible and therefore, you can choose the one that works best for you. For example, you can submit observations via an app on your phone or write them down and then submit online later. Remember to keep a copy for yourself, as you may be asked to produce it.

Hedgerow Management

Once you have assessed the hedgerows and submitted your information, there is a follow-on action that you can take, HRW2: Manage hedgerows.

The idea of this is that you develop the hedgerows on your farm and manage them at a range of different heights and widths so they can provide a habitat for wildlife and sources of pollen, nectar and berries for mammals, birds and insects.

As with HRW1, you can do this on one side or both sides of an eligible hedgerow and choose yourself the total length of eligible hedgerows to put into the action.

How you go about managing the hedgerows is dependent upon whether they are fully established (usually around five years after they were planted), whether they are newly planted or not yet fully established.

Incremental Cutting

There are different ways of cutting and managing hedgerows and you have freedom to choose which one you undertake.

They could be incremental cutting, managing on a rotation and cutting once every three years, or once every two years, or opting to manage them in a coppicing or laying rotation, which means they are left uncut for the duration of your three-year SFI agreement.

Let’s take a closer look at incremental cutting though as this approach can be applied to both fully established hedgerows and new ones. Plus, the way you cut a hedgerow is important in terms of the benefits to insects, flowers, birds and animals.

A hedgerow cut too low will not be used by birds and animals that like to feed or nest further away from the ground and if it is cut back to the same point each time, it is unlikely to produce many berries. Another issue is that continually cutting too low will negatively impact the structure of the hedge and this will affect the number of nesting sites it can provide and will lead to easier access for predators.

To get around this, if you are working on fully established hedgerows, you could take the incremental cutting approach by increasing the height and width of each cut by about 10cms compared with the previous cut.

If you have new, or not fully established hedges, HRW2 requires you to trim it incrementally until fully established. This method will, over that time, encourage dense, bushy growth.

Establishing Hedgerows

Following on from the previous two SFI actions, there is a third known as how to maintain or establish hedgerow trees (HRW3).

By establishing hedgerows on your farm and land you are helping to create a habitat for wildlife and also bringing about carbon storage benefits, and this is the main aim of HRW3.

When it comes to establishing new hedgerows, you need to think about having a mix of different, site-suited species to support a wider variety of wildlife and it is best to avoid planting ash, because of disease.

To give saplings the best chance of growing and thriving use tree guards to protect them from grazing animals and livestock. You should also avoid planting near powerlines and places where the sapling could obstruct roads, tracks or rights of way.

To meet HRW3 requirements you will also need to tag or identify that they are new trees, and it is also a requirement to not damage them by managing land around them, letting livestock get at them or with farm machinery.

However, this time of year is ideal to be thinking about SFI actions for Hedgerow Standards as in the Winter months between November and March, the saplings can be supplied bare-root.

And, if you have land that dries well, it gives the roots more time to become established. That said, if you have wet land, it is better to wait until the back end of Winter as there will be less chance of the roots rotting in the ground.

Summary

Hedgerows might not be the top of your priority list but there are huge benefits to be had by paying a bit more attention to them.

Granted, there is some effort in planting and establishing them if you don’t already have hedgerows in place on the farm, but after that, some farmers have likened it to being paid to not deal with them. Depending on the agreement you take, they will only require cutting once every two or three years.

However, good hedgerows can lead to a wide range of benefits beyond financial incentive.

They can help reduce soil erosion and flooding by slowing water flow, while also halting sediment and pollutants before they can get into watercourses. They also provide forage and shelter for livestock, supply wood for timber and fuel, screen unsightly buildings and developments, absorb carbon dioxide and, ultimately, help to create character in our landscapes.