No-Till Farming and SFI

The benefits of minimising soil disturbance

As with direct drilling and minimum tillage, the aim of no-till farming is to cause minimum disturbance to the soil when cultivating crops. 

This is borne out of the belief conventional ploughing depletes soil health and has a detrimental impact on the environment due to the level of disturbance it creates. 

There is certainly plenty of evidence of ploughing’s negative side effects. 

Slicing the earth at depths of 20 – 25cm, as modern ploughing does, can kill earthworms and damage fungi and other microorganisms, all of which are vital to good soil health. 

It releases carbon into the atmosphere, degrading soil organic matter, and leaves soil vulnerable to erosion and nutrient depletion during heavy rain and other severe weather events. 

Ploughing and conventional crop cultivation are also criticised for their reliance on steel and diesel – huge farm machinery that compacts the soil as it goes, and requires large volumes of fossil fuel-derived diesel to run.

As a result of all of this, ploughing has had a lot of bad press over recent years, fuelling a drive to reduce its usage as much as possible. 
Unsurprisingly, with its perceived environmental benefits, no-till farming has long been touted as alternative.

Exponents of no-till claim it has the opposite impact on soil health to ploughing due to the lack of disturbance it requires. This enables organic matter, which is essential for soil to function as a living ecosystem, to build up. 

They also claim the lack of disturbance improves soil structure which reduces erosion and increases the soil’s ability to hold water, reducing nutrient and pesticide runoff to sensitive areas. 

Other benefits include an increase in soil fauna, which helps fuel soil organic matter and nutrient recycling in the soil, enhanced habitat for wildlife, helping to address the UK’s biodiversity crisis, and a significant reduction in the use of large machinery to cultivate crops. 

Criticisms of no-tillage farming

Whereas the arguments for no-till would seem cut and dry, as with most things in life, it’s not that simple. 

According to the Soil Association, many no-till systems have a heavy reliance on herbicides to kill crop residues and weeds, and that can have a damaging impact on the soil biodiversity no-till advocates claim it creates – particularly on earth worms – as well as the surrounding flora.

No-till has been highlighted as a possible management tactic for blackgrass, and whereas this has certainly proved to be the case for some farms, it is equally true that many non-organic arable farmers using no-till often experience severe outbreaks of grass weeds including blackgrass. This often forces a return to ploughing, undoing any beneficial impacts on soil health the system created. 

Some research also suggests the carbon sequestration properties of no-till systems are overstated, claiming that adopting organic farming practices is a far more effective way of increasing soil organic matter, soil fauna, and ultimately optimising soil health. 

No-till and SFI

Despite these criticisms, provision has been made for no-till systems in the 2024 updates to the SFI scheme. SFI action SOH1 pays farmers £73 per hectare to switch to no-till for a minimum term of three years. 

According to the scheme, the aims of SOM1 are: 

• Improve soil health, fertility, structure, soil water storage and reduce soil runoff
• Help to keep organic matter and nutrients in the soil
• Provide benefits for carbon, water quality and biodiversity
• Help protect historic environment features

To access the funding, farmers can grow cash crops or cover crops using no-till techniques and must use either a tine drill, disc drill or precision seed drill. Conventional or shallow min-till cultivation machinery cannot be used. 

Eligible and types include arable land used to grow crops, temporary grassland, and arable land lying fallow. 

SOH1 is a static action, meaning it must be done at the same location every year for the duration of the action. 

As with most of the SFI actions, you must keep evidence to show you’ve taken this action and how you did it. This could include field operations at a land parcel level, along with associated invoices, and photographs and other documentation. 

If you are unsure of what evidence to keep, discuss this with your agronomist. 

There are a significant number of other actions under the 2023 and 2024 SFI scheme, and Countryside Stewardship, which can be carried out on the same parcel of land to maximise income. More details of these can be found on the government website. 

Switching to a no-till system

So, if you feel no-till is for you and you want to access SFI action SOH1, how easy is it to move from a conventional ploughing system? 

The temptation is to say it is easy, all you need is a new drill. But that’s not the case at all. Moving to no-till requires planning, starting with an thorough assessment of whether it is right for your farm or not. 

No-till works best on drier, more stable, well-structured and well-drained soil, but that is not to say it won’t also produce results on different types of land. 

The best starting point is to ask your agronomist to carry out an assessment on your land’s suitability for no-till, or to undertake SFI action CSAM1, which involves assessing your soils, producing a soil management plan and testing for soil organic matter. 

This will give you a better insight into whether no-till will fit into your wider farming operations. 

Do you need a new drill? 

One of the most common questions we get asked is whether or not you will have to invest in a new drill to start a no-till system. 

A no-till or zero till direct drill drills seeds directly into the stubble of a previous crop that’s had no cultivation after harvest, leaving most of the previous crop residue undisturbed after drilling. 

The aim of this is to increase soil organic matter and to ensure any rainfall has soaked into the soil to reduce surface runoff and soil erosion. 

The answer is ‘not necessarily’. It might be possible to adapt existing cultivation equipment to fit into a no-till system. This is something to speak to the manufacturer about, or get advice from your dealership. 

However, if this is not an option, then investing in a new drill is likely to be necessary. 

One thing to bear in mind if considering moving to no-till is that you’re likely to see yield drops in the first three years of the change. However, yields normally recover after this time as soil health improves and soil microbes become more efficient and effective at accessing the nitrogen left in the crop residues. 

In systems where straw is chopped, you can spread the chopped straw and chaff evenly across the field using a stubble rake or straw harrow with rearward facing tines, which can help to encourage germination.

Process not event

Like all large changes, moving from conventional ploughing to no-till is a process, not an event. It takes planning, experimentation, finding new ways of doing things, testing, tweaking, and repeating, but over time, a picture will develop that will hopefully minimise your farm’s impact on the environment, enhance your soil health for the long term, and enable you to produce high-quality, profitable cash crops.