Guest blog by Alice Groom, Senior Policy Officer
In England, Defra is currently reforming agricultural policies, replacing subsidy primarily with environmental payments. This provides a once in a generation opportunity to truly build a nature friendly food and farming system.
However, whilst the Initial rhetoric from Government was ambitious, they are struggling to match this rhetoric with real world action. In fact, Government Is at risk of falling Into the same traps that dogged the EU's Common Agricultural Policy.
Nature positive farming
Crucially, nature positive farming doesn’t mean choosing between nature and profitability, in fact, farming with the grain of nature has significant business benefits. But this change requires changes to practices and mindsets. Neither our nature nor the climate can survive another decade of ‘almost, but not quite, hitting the bar.’
What we are expecting from Defra is a clear vision for nature positive farming that outlines the contribution it will make to delivering those environmental targets, a clear roadmap and a set of effective, deliverable and practical policy mechanisms to get there.
Sheep grazing at RSPB Haweswater. Image (c) Michael Harvey (rspb-images.com)
Defra has published snippets of this vision, and a skeleton roadmap, but it has not given enough detail to enable farmers to plan or really understand the options. For instance, they still don’t know what the offer is for organic, tenant and hill farmers. What has been signalled so far has made it difficult to judge the level of ambition.
Sustainable Farming Initiative
This is perhaps why, as details emerge about the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), one of the three components of Environmental Land Management being designed, the reception has been chilly. There’s just not enough information to judge.
In June, Defra announced that, next year, it will launch an early version of the SFI, focusing on soil, animal welfare and a moorland standard. But, without context about how the entire ELM landscape will work, this offer looks thin, and the details released about the standards so far look unambitious.
Defra insists that the SFI will build in ambition to ensure it “does a lot of the heavy lifting across the farmed landscape”. How and when it will is not clear. The department is keen to achieve high uptake, which is something we support. But, without clear articulation of what the SFI will deliver, there is a risk of repeating the mistakes of former schemes, notably entry level stewardship which had great potential (its robust application at the RSPB’s Hope Farm helped to drive up the Farmland Bird Index by 226 per cent). However, the political decision to prioritise uptake over performance meant that potential was squandered. The scheme achieved 70 per cent uptake, but failed to deliver against environmental objectives.
Yellowhammers are one of the species to benefit from the measures put in place at Hope Farm. Image (c) Ben Andrew (RSPB)
Defra should introduce a ratchetting mechanism to strengthen the SFI over time, and provide a detailed description of the strengthened standards expected by the end of the transition. It should also explain how the asset-based approach translates into the whole farm approach needed, and what will happen to farm regulation and enforcement.
Baking ambition in from the start will help the funding case
Ensuring ambition is baked in from the start of the SFI is the best way to encourage innovation, support planning and maintain an effective case for ongoing Treasury funding.
On the global stage, Defra is very proud of its proposed reforms, which makes its reluctance to clearly articulate the vision so odd. It is true there is a sequencing issue between ELM development and the finalisation of Environment Bill targets but, ultimately, it is clear what the priorities for ELM should be, and what is needed to translate them into policies which ensure nature positive farming becomes the norm and helps farmers to do it.
RSPB would like to see the following:
Ultimately, the RSPB is willing ELM to succeed. And we work with many progressive farmers who want the same thing. The decision to shift from subsidy to environmental payments is the right one. But now is the time to bring this idea alive and ensure the three ELM schemes operate in harmony to deliver a nature rich countryside and thriving farming and rural businesses that are part of the UK’s future net zero carbon economy. We, and others, are here to help make it happen.