AHW7 — Enhanced overwinter stubble

This action’s aim is that there’s a post-harvest stubble remaining during the autumn, winter, spring and summer months. The purpose of this is to provide: - a winter food source for seed-eating farmland birds - spring and summer foraging and nesting habitats for other farmland birds, and habitats for other farmland wildlife

You can do this action on agricultural land located below the moorland line that’s: - identified by you as not being at risk of soil erosion or surface runoff – you must keep evidence of this - an eligible land type (as defined in section 5.1.1 ‘Eligible land types’ in the SFI26 scheme information) - registered with an eligible land cover on your digital maps - declared with a land use code which compatible with the eligible land cover Eligible land type | Eligible land cover | Compatible land use code Arable land used to grow cereals (not maize or sorghum), oilseed rape or linseed | Arable land | Land use codes for arable crops

After harvest, you must leave the stubble from a cereal crop, oilseed rape or linseed until around mid-summer in the following year. You must not apply pre-harvest desiccants to the cereal crop, oilseed rape or linseed. You must not do the following on the stubble area: - top or graze it - apply any pesticides, except herbicides to control grass weeds by spraying the affected area from around mid-May - apply any fertilisers, manures or lime

You must do this action each year of its 3-year duration. If this action’s start date means it’s too late for you to do this action, you must start doing it within 12 months of the action’s start date. In the final year of this action’s duration, you must do the action until around mid-summer or this action’s end date, whichever is earlier.

It’s up to you how you do this action, as long as you: - follow this action’s requirements – these are identified by a ‘must’ - do the action in a way that could reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim You may find it helpful to read the ‘advice to help you do this action’, but it’s not part of this action’s requirements.

You must keep written evidence that land entered into this action is not at risk of soil erosion or surface runoff. You can use the soil management plan you’ve already produced for SFI24 action CSAM1 or SFI23 action SAM1 to identify this. You must also keep evidence to show what you’ve done to complete this action, such as: - field operations at a land parcel level and associated invoices - photographs and other documentation If it’s not clear that you’ve done this action in a way that could reasonably be expected to achieve its aim, we may ask for this evidence. You must supply the evidence if we ask for it.