Some farmers will lose money by opting into environment schemes under new plans to cap payments available for sustainable farming.
Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, said the new system is “fairer”, adding: “Too much of our most productive land was removed from conventional farming.” Farmers will be disincentivised from taking large amounts of their land out of food production and rewilding it for nature, under her plans.
After Brexit, England moved from a system where farmers were subsidised based on how much land they managed, to one where they would be paid for delivering environmental benefits.
This was paid based on an “income foregone” basis, meaning farmers would never be out of pocket for digging ponds, planting trees, or sowing wildflower seeds on previously intensively farmed land.
Now, the government is introducing caps, meaning no farm will be allowed to claim more than £100,000 a year from the schemes. For some larger farms and estates, this will probably mean they put land back into food production.
Reynolds told the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) conference: “Right now, a quarter of the funding is going to just 4% of farms. That is not right. I want more farmers to have the opportunity to benefit from the scheme. I believe this strikes the right balance between value for money, stronger environmental delivery and real simplicity while retaining choice for all farm types.”
She told farmers she “cannot assure” them that there will be no funding gap between the old sustainable farming incentive and countryside stewardship schemes and the new ones. 10,000 agreements expire in December.
Jake Fiennes, head of conservation at the Holkham Estate, which was one of the pilot schemes for the new environmental land payments, said: “With this new policy, there is all the potential of some wonderful work delivering for the environment being undone.”
He said larger farms and estates, which had put much of their land into environmental schemes, would be disincentivised to keep those projects going for the long term. “Many major schemes are due to end in December. These will have a significant environmental value and the resultant change in income driven by this policy will probably mean a reduction in environmental output in these areas. Some of which have been committed to improving the environment for decades.”
Food production is in decline in England, with wheat, vegetables and beef all falling, due to rising costs and extreme weather caused by climate breakdown. Many farmers are struggling to make ends meet due to rises in costs which have not been matched by the prices they get paid by supermarkets.
Tom Bradshaw, president of the NFU, said: “Over recent years, the production of staples such as wheat, beef, poultry meat and vegetables are all down. We need a food strategy that sets clear ambitions, sector by sector – something we can measure, something we can hold ourselves accountable for. The years of declining food production must end now.”
Under the new government plans, smaller farms under 50 hectares will be prioritised for funding. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said this is because 25% of funding went to 4% of farms previously.
Farmers have called for the government to stop making changes to the schemes, and keep the funding levels secure and transparent from now on so they can take long-term actions for the environment.
Martin Lines, chief executive of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, said: “To meet our climate and nature goals, funding must now grow and remain consistent over the longer term to help strengthen food security. Some restrictions still risk leaving farmers without support, but a resilient food system will ultimately require every farm in England to be enabled to work with nature.”
Fiennes added: “I totally understand the government’s ambition to rebalance the distribution of farming and land based schemes. But when we try to rectify an issue of disproportionate distribution we risk the possibility of undoing some great work.”
