AB11: Cultivated areas for arable plants

Find out about eligibility and requirements for the cultivated areas for arable plants option.

From:
Rural Payments Agency and Natural England
Published
2 April 2015
Last updated
4 January 2024 — See all updates
Grant type:
Option
Land use:
Air quality, Arable land, Biodiversity, Uplands and Pollinators and wildlife
Tiers or standalone items:
Higher Tier, Mid Tier, Offer: Arable and Offer: Mixed Farming
Funding (per unit per year):
More than £500

How much will be paid

£660 per hectare (ha).

Where to use this option

  • Available for Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier and Higher Tier

  • Whole or part parcel

  • Rotational

  • Only on arable land:

    • where evidence or records exist for important arable plants (Plantlife IAPA classification 4 and above – see Appendix II, page 19). These records can either be historic (within the last 40 years) or from recent arable plant survey results
    • where arable plant records do not exist but the land is part of the Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package

The following options and supplements can be located on the same area as this option:

How this option will benefit the environment

It creates uncropped, cultivated areas for a wide range of scarce and declining arable plants, allowing them to increase their populations over time. It will provide areas of less densely vegetated ground for insects such as bumblebees, solitary bees and hoverflies visiting flowers and the bare ground created. The option will also provide summer foraging habitats for declining farmland birds, such as grey partridge and turtle dove.

Aims

If you’re selected for a site visit, we will check that delivery of the aims is being met and the prohibited activities have not been carried out. This will ensure the environmental benefits are being delivered.

Fallow margins or plots, cultivated in the spring or autumn, with evidence of a fine surface suitable for wild plants to establish from the soil seedbank. Natural vegetative cover should be in place throughout the growing season until the 31 August.

Prohibited activities

To achieve the aims and deliver the environmental benefits, do not carry out any of the following activities:

  • disturb cultivated areas before 31 August
  • apply any fertilisers or manures
  • apply any lime
  • use any pesticides, except for herbicides to weed-wipe or spot-treat for the control of injurious weeds, invasive non-natives, nettles or bracken

On your annual claim you will be asked to declare that you have not carried out any prohibited activities.

To assist you in achieving the aims and deliver the environmental benefits for this option, we recommend that you use best practice.

We recommend that you:

  • create the fallow margins or plots annually
  • cultivate in the spring between February and April or in the autumn between September and November - work the soil sufficiently to produce a fine surface across the whole area

Keeping records

Where there is uncertainty about whether the aims of the options have been delivered, we will take into account any records or evidence you may have kept demonstrating delivery of the aims of the option. This will include any steps you’ve taken to follow the recommended management set out above. It’s your responsibility to keep such records if you want to rely on these to support your claim.

  • Records at parcel level of your field operations, including any associated invoices
  • Photographs of the option

Additional guidance and advice

The following advice is helpful, but they are not requirements for this item.

Pick the right location

Where sites have important arable plant species present or where they could be released from the seed bank (historic or local records will help identify them), this option can deliver tailored management for them. The Plantlife Important Arable Plant Areas (IAPA) handbook referenced above scores individual species, if there are records of plants which score 4 or above this option is available.

The richest areas for arable plants are at the edges of fields, adjacent to old farm tracks and boundary features, so margins up to 6m wide will work best here.

Fields with a long history of cultivation, together with old grass margins that were previously arable, should also be considered.

Some of the more common species of arable plants are good ‘indicator’ species and indicate the potential of an area to hold rich arable flora in the seed bank, so it is important to focus on these sites, as well as those containing the rarest species.

Managing your plots

Rotating the cultivated areas around the farm can help control and prevent a build-up of undesirable weed species.

Varying cultivation timing and depth can also help control undesirable species while providing suitable conditions for germinating arable plants in the spring and autumn.

Topping at a height of around 30cm to prevent seeding of undesirable weed species such as wild oats and creeping thistle is allowed during the growing season, as many of the desirable arable plant species are shorter than this. Where this weed burden develops on more than 40% of the area, targeted broad-spectrum herbicides can be used once annual species have set seed (normally in September).

If grass weeds become a problem, periodically (one year in 3) creating a stale autumn seedbed and cultivating in mid-March can help control them. This is particularly relevant on heavy clay sites. Ploughing can also be useful for controlling grass weeds.

Use this option as part of a sequence of arable options which can occupy the same area of land at different times of the year, such as overwinter stubbles.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

This option can form part of an IPM approach to prevent the establishment of pests, weeds and diseases. If successful, appropriate and within proximity of cropped areas, these may limit the need for the use of Plant Protection Products and enhance wildlife and biodiversity on your holding. Read information on IPM at AHDB (Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board) Integrated Pest Management and LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming).

Biodiversity

This option has been identified as being beneficial for biodiversity. All Countryside Stewardship habitat creation, restoration and management options are of great significance for biodiversity recovery, as are the wide range of arable options in the scheme. Capital items and supplements can support this habitat work depending on the holding’s situation and potential.

The connectivity of habitats is also very important and habitat options should be linked wherever possible. Better connectivity will allow wildlife to move/colonise freely to access water, food, shelter and breeding habitat, and will allow natural communities of both animals and plants to adapt in response to environmental and climate change. 

Further information

Read Countryside Stewardship: get funding to protect and improve the land you manage to find out more information about Mid Tier and Higher Tier including how to apply.

Updates to this page

Published 2 April 2015
Last updated 4 January 2024 + show all updates

  1. Update to How Much Is Paid

  2. New payment rate from 1 January 2022

  3. Additional guidance and advice section updated - this option can form part of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach to prevent the establishment of pests, weeds and diseases.

  4. 'Air quality' added to Land use.

  5. Option updated for agreements starting from 1 January 2022.

  6. From 1 January 2019, this option cannot be used on land already receiving funding for Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs) declared for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS).

  7. Updated for 2017 applications.

  8. Information updated for applications in 2016.

  9. First published.

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