OFC4Organic conversion – horticultural land

What it actually is

The vegetable and salad member of the organic conversion family, whose shared machinery is set out in full on the OFC3 page. This version covers horticultural land producing vegetables or salad crops, on arable or permanent-crop covers, or on permanent grassland where cultivation is part of the approved conversion plan, with at least one horticultural crop grown per parcel per year. Applied for a year at a time across up to 2 consecutive years; rotational for non-permanent crops, so it can move with the cropping in year two, static for permanent horticultural crops. The family's rules apply: approved plan followed, standards from day one, conversion completed and the land registered fully organic before the end date, and no entry for previously organic land.

Source: GOV.UK, OFC4 action page, checked 23/08/2026.

What it pays, and what that comes to

The rate is in the panel at the top of this page, paid during conversion. Multiplied out:

Source: arithmetic on the payment rate shown at the top of this page, which comes from Tilth's copy of the GOV.UK action catalogue and carries its own last-checked date. The 10 hectares is an illustration.

Is it worth it on your ground?

The family's judgement, from the OFC3 page, at its highest stakes: horticultural margins per hectare are the largest in farming, so the conversion-period gap between organic costs and conventional prices is the largest too, and this rate, big as it is by scheme standards, is a contribution to it rather than cover for it. The decision is the market's: a secured organic veg outlet on the far side changes the whole sum, and without one the sum should not be started.

Source: the payment rate at the top of this page; requirements from GOV.UK, OFC4 action page, checked 23/08/2026. The judgements are Tilth's own reading rather than scheme guidance.

Does it work, and what makes it work better

This section is what we have found in published sources about the practice this action pays for. It is not scheme guidance, it is not Defra's or the RPA's view, and it adds no requirement beyond what the GOV.UK action page sets out.

Carried in full on the OFC3 page: one graded assessment placing conversion in the category Trade-off between benefit and harms on 7 studies, 55 per cent effectiveness, 52 per cent certainty, 64 per cent harms, the harms being the yield and nutrient penalty every converting grower already prices; and ungraded catalogues finding more butterflies, moths and pest natural enemies on organic farms in most comparisons. The natural pest control file bears most on veg ground, and its honest summary is encouragement without proof: more natural enemies in eight of twelve studies, effects varying by crop, species and season.

Source: Conservation Evidence, action 895, Enhancing Soil Fertility synopsis, and the catalogues cited on the OFC3 page, checked 23/08/2026. The reading is Tilth's own.

What you actually have to do

Register the land as in conversion, follow the approved plan, grow at least one horticultural crop per parcel per year, comply with organic standards from the start of the conversion period to the action's end date, and complete conversion with the land registered fully organic before the action ends. Keep the plan, certificate and records. Non-permanent cropping can move in year two; permanent crops stay put.

Source: GOV.UK, OFC4 action page, checked 23/08/2026.

Where it can go

Three kinds of land: arable land growing horticultural crops under the horticultural arable crop codes, permanent horticultural crops under TC01, and permanent grassland under PG01 where cultivation is part of the conversion plan, all below the moorland line and registered as in conversion. Unlike the grassland conversions, the entry can be the total or part of the available area in a parcel. SSSIs need Natural England's consent before the Rural Payments Agency offers you an SFI26 agreement; historic features need an SFI HEFER before you do the action, which matters most where the plan cultivates old grassland, since cultivating over a buried feature is the harm the record exists to catch.

Source: GOV.UK, OFC4 action page, checked 24/08/2026.

Things worth watching

This section is Tilth's own reading of where this action is easy to get wrong. It is not scheme guidance, it is not sourced from Defra or the RPA, and none of it adds a requirement beyond what the GOV.UK action page sets out.

One horticultural crop per parcel per year is a floor with teeth. A fertility-building year of ley on a converting veg rotation needs placing carefully against the requirement; where the ley goes and where the crop goes is plan design, not improvisation.

Rotational entry, converting whole. The action can move with the cropping, but organic conversion attaches to land, not to crops. Which parcels are actually converting, and which merely host this year's entered crop, is exactly the kind of confusion the control body's maps exist to prevent. Follow theirs.

The labour is the hidden line. Organic veg weed control is hands and steel. The conversion budget that only prices lost yield and forgone sprays has missed its biggest number.

The family's small print applies. Consecutive annual applications, completion by the end date, no previously organic land. The OFC3 page carries it all.

Keeping the evidence

Source: evidence requirements, GOV.UK, OFC4 action page, checked 23/08/2026. The suggestion is Tilth's own.

The part only your own ground can answer

Whether there is an organic buyer for what this ground grows, at a premium that outlasts the conversion, is the whole question, and it is answered in contracts, not agronomy. What the two bridge years cost is answered afterwards in your own margins, which Tilth keeps, crop by crop, parcel by parcel. Request an invite.