Nature-based farming-subsidies scheme given green light

Image source, BBC/Claire Marshall

After a controversial review, the farm subsidy scheme will go forward.

The UK government says that two elements of the payment system will be retained.

Farmers would have been rewarded for creating space for nature.

Farmers will have to wait until the New Year to find out how much they will be paid.

The decision to review elms had angered farmers, who wanted to know the details of what work would be rewarded, and the environmentalists, who worried that its focus would be weakened

The review is complete and the government is moving ahead with the transition, according to the environment secretary.

The biggest shake-up of farm policy in England in 40 years has been planned by the Elms.

Most of the payments under the CAP system were based on how much land a farmer owned, which led to criticisms that they benefited the wealthiest farmers.

The awards of subsidies focus on the environmental work farmers can do.

It's not the choice to produce food or do environmental schemes, it's the other way around. Making space for nature and sustainable food production are related. Both of them are not exclusive. They can be beneficial to one another.

Farmers are frustrated by the lack of clarity about how much will be paid.

There will be more information in the new year.

Image source, Getty Images

Three payment schemes will be included in the elms.

• The sustainable-farming incentive focuses on soil health and reducing the use of "inputs" such as fertilisers and pesticides
• The landscape-recovery scheme will pay landowners for ambitious large-scale "rewilding" projects
• An adapted version of the existing countryside-stewardship scheme, which Ms Coffey called "countryside stewardship plus", will replace the planned local nature-recovery scheme

Farmers would have been paid for restoring wetlands under the local nature-recovery scheme.

The same ambitious outcome would be achieved by the improved-stewardship scheme.

The government is watering down its commitment to the natural world, according to the National Trust's land and nature director.

He said that a return to countryside stewardship, where farmers are paid to look after the environment as a supplement to their core business interests, risks a clunky retrofitting of previous policies rather than securing the world-leading overhaul that farmers were promised.

Farmers have spent hours into making a success of the local nature-recovery scheme, which puts a healthy local environment at the heart of farming.

The secretary of state confirmed the government's commitment for the agricultural transition to help tackle the nature and climate crises but time is short to meet the government's targets. Delays in these farming schemes will make it more difficult.

Warm and ambitious words are welcome, but now we need the action to match them.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs needs to clearly set out how they will build on the countryside stewardship scheme to ensure it is able to help tackle the nature and climate crises.

David Exwood, the NFU's vice-president, said: "We remain committed to working with DeFRA to improve its Elm schemes so farmers are able to continue producing sustainable climate-friendly food, as well as delivering for the environment."

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