Case Study: SAFFIE
Introduction
Many people think that ‘sustainable’ farming just means that farmers must protect the environment and
encourage biodiversity on their farms. But if you were an arable farmer, what would you grow – crops, or
wildlife? A flowering meadow full of butterflies and bees looks lovely, but you can’t eat it and you can’t sell
it at market. Genuinely sustainable farming means looking after the environment whilst producing lots of
high quality food, and making a profit.
Why do farmers need help?
There was a time when all farmers really had to worry about was their crop and the weather. Today’s
farmers have many roles and many skills. They must understand biology, genetics, finance, accountancy,
engineering, technology, public relations and all of the regulations that govern how our food is produced.
Of course they can’t be experts in all of these, so they turn to other experts for advice. That’s also true
when it comes to protecting biodiversity and the environment – farmers need practical advice and expert
guidance. That’s why industry associations, Government departments and nature organisations support
practical research projects like SAFFIE.
Sustainable Arable Farming For an
Improved Environment
What is SAFFIE?
SAFFIE stands for Sustainable Arable Farming For an Improved Environment. The
SAFFIE research project involved 20 partner organisations, including Syngenta, and
ran over 5 years. The aim was to scientifically investigate ways to promote biodiversity
in fields of winter cereal crops (such as winter wheat), without affecting crop yields, and
then provide practical advice to farmers.
What was involved?
Over 5 years, scientists ran experiments on a number of trial farms
across the UK. The project tried to promote farmland biodiversity by
testing new agricultural practices in two areas on the farms;
In the crop – i.e. directly within the fields of winter wheat – by allowing
more of certain types of weedy plants to survive there
In the field margins – i.e. the area surrounding the crop – by sowing
special mixtures of grasses and wildflowers into these areas and then
managing them appropriately for wildlife.
In both cases the aim was to provide more of the ‘food plants’ that insects
like, so that their total numbers (and the number of different insect
species) would increase. Farmland birds and animals would then also
benefit, from increased insect and seed populations and foraging sites.
Syngenta farm
www.syngenta.co.uk/learningzone
Case Study: SAFFIE
Sustainable Arable Farming For an
Improved Environment 2
A third part of the research was on ways to
there might be some benefits for biodiversity, this
encourage farmland birds, particularly the skylark
just wouldn’t work for farmers.
(which is an endangered species), to breed more
2. Field Margin Techniques: The different
successfully in
wildflower and grass mixtures the scientists tried
winter cereal
had real benefits for insects and other wildlife.
fields. One
Some beneficial insect populations increased by
technique was to
up to 80% and birds benefited from this too.
provide ‘skylark
scrapes’, which
3. Skylark plots: Over the period of the study, fields
are small
with skylark plots saw a 50% increase in the
‘uncropped’ areas
number of chicks
in the centre of the
reared. Other
wheat crop.
birds such as
These 4m x 4m
buntings and
squares become
‘Skylark scrape’ in a field
finches also
areas of soil and
benefited. There
low vegetation where skylarks can land, find food
is a cost to
and find access to nesting sites in the summer,
farmers in
when the rest of the wheat crop is too tall for them.
creating skylark
plots, but it is
In the final phase of the project, the scientists tested
manageable
using the field margin and skylark plot techniques
with the right
A Skylark
together on farms, and studied how these would
support.
interact for the benefit of wildlife.
What were the results?
What was the outcome?
 At the end of the project, the project partners
1. In-Crop’ techniques: Here the scientists
collected all their evidence and published a full
discovered a problem. Allowing more weeds to
report and an advisory booklet (download from
grow in a crop – for example by using less
www.syngenta.co.uk/learningzone).
herbicide – is not sustainable if the weeds
compete too much  The booklet provides clear examples and
practical guidance on how to adopt the SAFFIE
with the crop for
techniques on farms, including the expected costs
water and
for the farmer. Farmers would work with expert
nutrients. Finding
advisers to help develop their plan to support
conditions that
biodiversity.
would let some
 Some of the recommendations in the booklet,
‘friendly’ weeds
such as introducing skylark plots, are now part of
grow, but keep the
the Entry Level Scheme (ELS) by which farmers
problem weeds
in the UK can be subsidised for introducing
out, was extremely
biodiversity-friendly features on their farms.
difficult. So while
Field Margin
www.syngenta.co.uk/learningzone