New economic analysis, published today by The Wildlife Trusts, shows a funding gap of over £2 billion for England’s Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMs), leaving both the farming community and nature facing a crisis. 

England’s farmers endured an exceptionally wet winter last year, followed by the hottest summer on record. With more heavy rainfall expected this winter and an even hotter summer forecast for 2027, The Wildlife Trusts warn that the increasing cost of inaction could be huge, with billions lost due to flooding, wildfires and soil loss. Nature-based solutions to these worsening challenges, enabled by ELMs funding, are more urgent than ever. 

However, ELMs, which pay farmers "public money for public goods" - subsidising them and other landowners for actions that protect nature and improve the environment – are chronically underfunded. Over the past year, England’s ELMs budget was £1.65 billion, yet the new economic analysis estimates that the scale of financial investment required to meet England’s environmental priorities is a minimum of £3.8 billion per year.  

The Wildlife Trusts argue that the ELMs budget has effectively been frozen for years, despite rising costs for farmers and the growing toll of climate change-driven heatwaves, droughts and flooding on food production. 

Farmers urgently need greater support to build resilience to extreme weather, restore nature and protect the UK’s food security. 

Of the £3.8 billion required to build resilience to the impacts of climate change across the farmed landscape, the analysis finds that over £2 billion must be designated to the upfront cost of actions and land use changes required to tackle climate change. This includes efforts to restore peatlands, create new habitats for wildlife and the planting of new hedgerows and trees, while the remaining £1.7 billion must be allocated to providing advice and ongoing management of nature-friendly farming practices. 

The warnings over the chronic underfunding of ELMs come ahead of the Chancellor's Budget on Wednesday, which is expected to have a major focus on the cost of living. The Wildlife Trusts argues that ELMs are vital for sustaining climate-resilient food security and lowering food prices, and that funding should therefore match the scale of need. 

Vicki Hird, strategic lead of agriculture at The Wildlife Trusts, said: 

“Britain’s farmers are facing a cacophony of crises, and the coming year could be make or break for many. Wild swings in extreme weather, driven by climate change, have decimated crop production, leaving the UK facing its most severe food security pressures in decades. Without action, the system we all rely upon could collapse. 

“Nature is here to help. Properly funding farmer-led nature-based solutions can make farmland and crops more resilient to flooding and drought by rewetting land, rebuilding soil health, supporting water management and restoring nature. 

“Environmental Land Management schemes are the means to do this, but funding has been effectively frozen for years as the need for support rises sharply and inflation has soared. The Chancellor must dig deep to fund schemes that mitigate climate change, sustain farmers’ livelihoods and lower food prices, easing inflationary pressures and the economic crisis.” 

The call for increased funding for nature-friendly farming also comes following a much-criticised application process for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), which, as part of ELMs, pays for nature-friendly measures such as improving soils, reducing chemical inputs and managing hedgerows. The re-opening of the scheme saw farmers compete for a £253 million pot which ran out in under six hours, leaving thousands empty handed.  

The chaotic application process - criticised by farmers, nature charities and MPs alike - is a clear demonstration that the overall Environmental Land Management budget is not sufficient.  

The current budget, The Wildlife Trusts argue, fails to meet the overwhelming demand from farmers for nature-friendly farming subsidies, as well as the scale of the nature and climate crisis that the schemes are designed to help tackle.