Future farming policy – Defra open their consultation on the future

Today, Defra published their consultation paper on future farming and land management policy. Given the importance of farming to wildlife, this policy area will be pivotal in shaping the future prospects for nature in England, as well as for farming itself.

I’ll come back to reflect in more detail later in the week, but for now, these are our first impressions…

…the principle of ‘public money for public goods’ is a potential game changer, and one that could drive a real increase in investment toward improving the natural environment

…having a new environmental land management system as the ‘cornerstone’ of a future agricultural policy in England is a very welcome commitment, and necessary to deliver on the aims and ambitions of the 25 year environment plan

…recognising that farming and the environment are intrinsically linked is important, and will be necessary if we are to avoid pursuing improvements to the environment and agricultural productivity in isolation

So some really great content, and it does a lot of what you’d expect a consultation paper to do in setting a direction, but leaving room to actually consult on some key questions. There are some areas though where more clarity would have been welcome, and will be needed before too long. These include…

…clarity on what this means for the rest of the UK beyond England. We need the UK and devolved administrations to agree on a high level of environmental ambition for future farming policies. How and whether they will do this is not clear.

…funding remains the elephant in the room. Beyond restating the commitment to maintain overall funding to 2022, there is no real mention of it. We set out what we think is needed in some recently commissioned, independent analysis, and will use this to make the case for significant investment well beyond 2022.

…the transition section includes some useful detail, but does not say when a transition will end, or when it will begin.

So a good start, and today is a potentially important milestone in moving toward a system of farming and land management that is better for people, and better for nature. The emphasis is now on us and our partners to make the case for change, in the next ten weeks and beyond.

You can have your say directly at https://consult.defra.gov.uk/farming/future-of-farming/. We’ll also be encouraging our supporters to respond the consultation in due course. If you’d like to stay informed, and hear about all our campaigns, sign up at www.rspb.org.uk/CampaignChampions

Image: Rosemary Despres (rspb-images.com)