Farmers in England are warning that a looming cliff-edge in support payments for nature-friendly farming practices will put precious farmland habitats at risk, including skylark plots and flower-rich field margins. 

Without these payments, farmers say, it will simply be impossible for them to continue to take land out of production to benefit nature – and who can blame them?  

Many farmers run their commercial businesses on impossibly tight profit margins - the financial pressures of sky-high inflation in energy and fuel costs, Brexit-related labour shortages and export costs, unsustainable pricing models and product specifications, and increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather events are pushing them to the brink. 

Add to this uncertainty on the direction of future policy, and it is understandable that some farmers say they are ready to walk away from environmental schemes. 

Unless action is taken soon, this could make a tragedy of the Government’s much-vaunted agricultural transition. Five years on from the passing of the Agriculture Act, rather than encourage more farmers to adopt nature-friendly practices, what we’re seeing is those farmers who have been farming with nature for years being left high and dry. 

These are farmers who want to be part of the agricultural transition – they want to continue their work and be the champions of a reformed, sustainable, and nature-positive sector – but Defra’s delay risks leaving an entire cohort of early adopters devoid of support. 

Last month, the Secretary of State promised that the Government would recognise and support “the pioneers and innovators” who have been working to “break the mould, championing the vital role of nature in sustainable food production from the start”. 

There is some reason to be optimistic about these commitments being delivered – the funding settlement agreed with Defra in the June Spending Review commits £2bn each year to support farmers in undertaking nature-friendly actions, far more than a decade ago. 

Defra are working to reopen the Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier scheme in September and relaunch the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) next year, with a focus on putting more money into ambitious actions for nature and rightly rewarding those farmers who go furthest and do the most. 

Yet the hard truth is that the timeline for bringing these schemes forward is measured in months rather than weeks, when the issues farmers face are here and now.  

The Wildlife Trusts’ recently published 25-Year Vision for Farming in England sets out how thriving and resilient farm businesses can produce healthy food sustainably alongside nature’s recovery, whilst ensuring food security in a nature & climate crisis – but realising this vision is impossible if farmers are unsupported. Expecting farmers to foot the bill for the Government’s environmental commitments by becoming more profitable – as if that were just as easy as flicking a switch - is flawed. 

The Government know what is needed to get the agricultural transition back on track, but Defra have been far too slow in implementing the necessary changes. With a funding settlement now agreed, Defra must pull out the stops to roll-out a credible offer for farmers urgently.  

Steve Reed told farmers “You are the pioneers. I’m here to learn”. He needs to learn quick, or risk losing the support of those who have championed nature-friendly farming – and in doing so lose the soul of the agricultural transition.