Latest news with #EnvironmentalLandManagement
Spectator
5 days ago
- Politics
- Spectator
Reeves is right to slash funds for wealthy landowners
It is beginning to feel a bit like 1998 all over again. That was the year of the first countryside march when it – supposedly – rose up in anger at the Blair government over its plan to abolish hunting, introduce the right to roam and build some houses for people to live in. Landowning interests, already reeling from Rachel Reeves' decision to partially remove the inheritance tax exemption on agricultural land, are now gearing up to bleat about a proposal to slash the £2.5 billion a year budget for Environmental Land Management (ELM) – the scheme which replaced the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after Brexit. It is reported that the scheme will be designed to be less generous, with payments being retained only for small farms. The landowning interest will be expecting to whip up mass public anger again, just as it did for the countryside march. But what exactly are taxpayers getting in return for ELM payments? The idea behind ELM was to come up with a more sensible scheme than CAP, which for the last two decades has been little more than welfare for landowners – it doles out billions to them simply for owning land and keeping it in the vague definition of 'agricultural condition'.
Daily Mirror
19-05-2025
- Climate
- Daily Mirror
'Climate change is clear to see and it's why we need to take water seriously'
Travelling down to London last week from my farm in West Yorkshire, I was struck, as I looked from the train window, by the dry and dusty landscape. This Spring is ranking as the driest in over a century, according to the Met Office, and with it, rising concerns within the farming industry. Grass growth, which is crucial in feeding livestock and producing nutritious milk, is beginning to falter. At home, we've just had a really successful lambing season helped by the glorious weather, but now we don't know where to put the lambs as our fields aren't as lush as they should be. Meanwhile, crops are becoming stressed from the lack of water. Farmers in some parts of the country have already started to irrigate at huge cost – one farmer I spoke to is spending £10,000 a day - while some water companies are already going into the early stages of their drought precautions. With the government's Spending Review just weeks away, continued investment to build resilience, protect the environment and support homegrown food production, has never been more important. It seems crazy that we're currently praying for a drop of rain after last year experiencing one of the most challenging seasons in living memory. Storm after storm sending thousands of acres of farmland under water with devastating floods leading to one of the worst wheat harvests in 20 years. To think a country like ours, fortunate to have a temperate climate, hasn't invested in all-important water storage. The last major reservoir completed was more than 30 years ago, in 1992, at Carsington in Derbyshire. The impact of climate change is clear for all to see and it's why we need to take water seriously. Farmers already do. We have to if we are to ensure that the food you enjoy is on the supermarket shelves. It's about futureproofing our use of water and looking at better ways of collecting, storing and moving water when we get too much, for times like now when we have too little. This must include initiatives like rainwater harvesting and flexible abstraction measures to ensure water availability for our farmers during periods of drought. Central to this must be investment in the nation's water infrastructure. Not just at a big scale but locally too. It will allow us look at innovative ways of growing more fruit and veg and other crops here while reducing the amount we import from more water scarce countries. Successive governments have focused on the Environmental Land Management scheme as a way to build in both drought resilience and mitigate flood risk. However, with future funding for those schemes uncertain, the NFU has joined forces with environmental groups to call on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to protect the farming budget in the upcoming Spending Review and ensure continued investment in a more resilient farming sector. By investing in British farming - the backbone of our fantastic food and drink sector - which contributes £148 billion to the national economy, we can lay the foundations for the future of our industry, so farmers can continue producing sustainable and affordable food alongside caring for the precious environment and support the growth our economy badly needs.
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Opinion: Closure of incentive scheme is appalling news for farmers
The abrupt closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) could undermine the work of progressive nature-friendly farmers, says Cath Crowther, East regional director for the Country Land and Business Association (CLA East). The government's announcement of the closure of the 2024 Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is appalling news for farmers and rural businesses as well as nature and biodiversity, at a time when the industry is still reeling from the Autumn Budget. SFI was the most ambitious, forward-thinking and environmentally-friendly agricultural policy seen anywhere in the world - it promised a fairer future for farmers and a greener future for the world. Despite this, the government has now announced that "SFI has reached its completion" and that it has stopped accepting new applications immediately. All existing SFI agreements will be paid to farmers, and outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will also be taken forward. The government said Environmental Land Management scheme agreements will remain in place, including SFI, and it will launch a new and improved SFI in 2026. The redesign of the scheme will follow the spending review, which will take place in June. The announcement came with a high degree of disingenuous messaging from the government. It has been made to appear as though this was something that was always planned. However, the reality is that since its launch, the SFI has been hampered by a stuttering roll-out, with uptake only increasing significantly in the last 12 months - all while basic payments were relentlessly reduced. The industry was very much under the impression that the scheme would continue to remain open, with Defra providing assurance that there would be minimal changes for SFI, apart from the addition of new actions later in 2025. In our region, there are many examples where land managers are demonstrating it is possible to farm the land and protect and enhance nature and the environment. This is now at serious risk and the businesses that had planned to enter SFI, but had not yet submitted an application, will need to review their business plans with urgency. The stop-start nature of these schemes does nothing to build confidence and this latest blow undermines the hard work of forward-thinking farmers and land managers who have put positive environmental outcomes at the heart of their businesses. The government must work with us, immediately, to find a solution.
The Guardian
08-02-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
UK conservation goals insufficient to save ants and bees, says expert
The UK's targets to stop the destruction of the natural world are so inadequate that they could be met even if all the country's bees, wasps, ants and moths were to go extinct, the government has been warned. Natural England's red list and the government's biodiversity indicators are used to measure changes in species abundance and as the baseline measures for targets to halt species extinction. However, the government has admitted the lists have critical gaps as they do not account for large groups such as moths, lice and hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants). On Friday, the government told the science committee it had no plans to expand the lists owing to limited availability of data. The chair of the science, innovation and technology committee, Chi Onwurah, said: 'While the department acknowledged that there were gaps in its species abundance and risk indicators, it stopped short of agreeing to fix these gaps, citing a lack of data. 'Insects and invertebrates are as crucial as pollinators in supporting natural and agricultural environments, and their numbers need to be monitored. If they are not included in official metrics, statutory targets to halt and reverse species extinction could be met even if all the UK's bees, wasps, ants and moths go extinct. 'This is very worrying. I hope that the government will be able to tell us how it will monitor the decline of all these species, and how it will fill its data gaps.' The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said: 'It is important to note just because a species is not included in the species abundance or extinction risk indicators, this does not mean that we will not be taking steps to conserve it.' The committee also asked for an update on the national action plan on sustainable pesticide usage and recommended that it include targets for reduction. The first plan was published in 2013 and an update was due in 2018 but is seven years late. Defra said it was 'working on publishing' the plan, but did not commit to including pesticide reduction targets. Vicki Hird of the Wildlife Trusts said: 'Action from this government can not come fast enough to reverse the disastrous decline in insects in the UK - not only critical pollinators but all the vital species building soils, circulating nutrients, feeding other animals and keeping pest in check. Whilst these are promising words we need to see more resources such as for the Environmental Land Management schemes helping farmers support beneficial insects. We've been waiting 8 years for the national Action Plan in pesticides - how much longer?' Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion A spokesperson for the charity Buglife said: 'We welcome the government's recognition that insects are in decline and that it threatens food security, but it is more urgent than ever that we understand and address the root causes. 'Insects and other invertebrates are the foundations of a healthy environment, helping to do far more than just pollinate crops. They underpin our ecosystems and without healthy populations, it will be impossible to halt nature's decline. 'We urge the government to be more ambitious, by filling gaps in our knowledge beyond a small select group of species. Action must be taken without delay, applying the precautionary principle to address crucial neglected issues such as light pollution, habitat fragmentation and the widespread use of everyday chemicals to reduce their impact on invertebrates and wider wildlife.'
