The government finally released the long-awaited information about its plan for subsidizing farms in the wake of Brexit.
Landowners in England will receive compensation for both food production and environmental stewardship.
Elms, or environmental land management schemes, provide financial incentives to farmers who take environmentally responsible measures, such as eliminating pesticide use in their fields.
Farmers and environmentalists alike applaud the new measures.
The government claims that with this funding, farms will be able to produce food in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way.
According to Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey, farmers are indispensable to the economy because they not only grow the food we eat but also protect the land on which it is grown.
She explained that protecting the environment and sustainably increasing food production go hand in hand and that this is why farming schemes are being sped up.
Given that the United Kingdom will no longer be a member of the European Union (EU), Elms is intended to replace the CAP. They are the most significant changes to England’s agricultural policy in the past four decades.
For the United Kingdom, agricultural policy is devolved, meaning that individual countries set up their subsidy programs.
The Elms in England will now include three different payment systems:
- The sustainable-farming incentive prioritizes soil health and reduces “inputs” like fertilizers and insecticides.
- Landowners who participate in “rewilding” projects on a grand scale will be compensated through the landscape restoration program.
- Farmers who take steps to mitigate the effects of climate change and protect their natural surroundings will be rewarded through the countryside stewardship plus program.
- To encourage farmers to take better care of their grasslands, soils, and hedgerows, the Sustainable Farming Incentive is being expanded to cover these areas.
Producers will benefit from Countryside Stewardship Plus if they “doing things in unison, like cooperating with nearby farms and landowners to further environmental and climate goals.
This includes restoring peat bogs and improving forests instead of relying on chemical methods.
Vice President of the NFU David Exwood praised the information as “incredibly useful,” adding that it provided “some of the clarity we have been asking for.”
Nature-Friendly Farming Network chair Martin Lines acknowledged that it was far from ideal but called it a “start.”
“Though isolated efforts won’t get us there, people working together to protect the environment and the planet are essential. Continued avoidance of a piecemeal strategy necessitates that efforts be coordinated with one another.
Head of Farming Policy, Gareth Morgan, recently said that the United Kingdom was “tinkering around the edges” when restoring its natural resources, despite being in the bottom 10% of countries worldwide.
“We applaud the government’s renewed commitment to assisting farmers in sustainable food production. However, a lot more work is required to assist them in undergoing the radical adjustments necessary to help us achieve our climate and nature objectives.”
The president of the CLA, Mark Tufnell, said that while many arable farmers would be encouraged to try out the new schemes, moorland or struggling hill farmers would find “little new” on offer.
The CAP system’s annual payments totaled around £3.5 billion, with the majority determined by the amount of land each farmer owned. This has led to claims that the system primarily benefits the wealthiest farmers.
