Basic overwinter stubble

What you must do

You must not apply pre-harvest desiccants to the cereal crop, oilseed rape or linseed. After harvest, you must leave the stubble from a cereal crop, oilseed rape or linseed until around mid-February. You must not do the following on the stubble area: top or graze it apply post-harvest herbicides apply any fertilisers, manures or lime

When to do it

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-February or this action’s end date, whichever is earlier.

Evidence to keep

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.

SFI26 actions v2.0, updated 7 July 2026 — verified 1 Aug 2026. Open official guidance