Whilst policy change takes time, the rate of ministerial churn at Defra does not seem to be slowing down. We are due yet another Prime Minister and have a new Food, Farming and Fisheries Minister, Stephen Morgan MP, replacing Dame Angela Eagle MP.
The Farming Minister is probably deep in listening mode given the huge and complex brief he now has. This means the expected policies for England farming may be further delayed, which is highly frustrating given how long we have been waiting.
It is now 10 years since the Brexit vote and farmers must be wondering “why have the changes taken so long?”
Farm scheme opening imminently
The first window of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) 2026 is almost upon us. Finally, after a painful pause of over a year, it will open on 30 June with £240 million. This is good news, especially for the farmers first in the queue – those with small farms (3-50 hectare) or without an existing Environmental Land Management (ELM) revenue agreement.(1) All other farmers will be able to access it in September. That is, assuming there’s enough budget left. However, Defra seems to be keeping a strong, open watch on budgets.
Now we urgently need news on the more ambitious, vital scheme - Countryside Stewardship - beyond the useful but inadequate £50 million budget they announced recently.
Government’s Farming Roadmap is due
We have been waiting for the long-anticipated Farming Roadmap, which has been well consulted on and is out today.
We need a 25-year roadmap that is ambitious and will deliver three things:
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Clear short- and long-term visions for success;
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Tools and resources (including money) to reach those goals; and
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A series of milestones, integrated with related policies, which are required to drive the sustainable farming and food system forward.
And that word - sustainable - does a lot of heavy lifting.
In covering 70% of UK land, farming must deliver for nature’s recovery and environmental targets alongside healthy food. Making sure there is an ample and long-term budget for higher ambition schemes – the Countryside Stewardship payments, for instance - that support significant habitat restoration and woodlands - as well as SFI will be essential.
As well as sustaining the key natural systems, water, soil, beneficial invertebrates, and so on, farming needs to be economically viable.
If the roadmap fails to set out major changes to food trade and the food industry - from supermarket buyers to the consumer and the food ‘waste’ sectors - who dictate so much of what farmers and growers do, it’s a roadmap to nowhere.
We hope the new Minister will be aware of these requirements - he could read our own roadmap for inspiration!(2)
More mixed news to report
The Food Strategy action plan seems to be further delayed. Remember the plan to move from a junk food to a good food cycle?(3) And to deal with ‘the invisibility of nature’? Much was promised for the action plan and all is still needed. Yet we still find ourselves waiting.
The Land Use Framework however is out, and Defra is making progress there. It remains unclear exactly how much this will framework will genuinely improve and change the current, inefficient use of much UK land - land which is not delivering for environment, food security, waste, or economic targets.
Inspiration and action at Groundswell
We do have the brilliant Groundswell to look forward to. This is a hands-on, practical event all about regenerative farming - putting soil health first while producing food in harmony with nature. The Wildlife Trusts have our own tent – Farming with Nature – with some fantastic sessions. If you’re at Groundswell, come along! We’ll be talking about everything from rivers and nature identification on farms, to farm clusters, doing dairy differently, and supply chains.
It’s important that new Farming Minister Stephen Morgan hears from real farmers wanting to do nature-friendly farming, so we hope to see him there too. Maybe we will also hear some news around Groundswell from Defra ministers. Action to ensure nature-based climate adaptation in farming is desperately needed with the new norms of temperature and water extremes. Better land use management everywhere can clearly benefit from nature as our new report “A Well Adapted UK” points out.(4)
Our soils took millions of years to form and can disappear in just a few years with mismanagement coupled with the rapidly destabilising climate. That’s why we cannot afford to wait, even though I’m trying to be patient. Maybe new ambitious farm and food strategies will be released soon. I will go to Groundswell with the hope and inspiration it always gives me.