The National Trust and RSPB have joined forces with farmers to warn the government that cutting the agricultural budget could be “catastrophic” for nature and rural businesses.
In a letter to food security and rural affairs minister Daniel Zeichner, exclusively seen by Sky News, a dozen of the biggest rural industry organisations say they are “deeply concerned” about rumoured cuts that will be made to the agricultural budget in Wednesday’s spending review.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves will set out budgets for each government department for the rest of this parliament, set to end in 2029.
The letter says cutting funding for existing and new environmental farming schemes will be “catastrophic” to the government’s aims for the environment.
“Many of the environmental features present in the countryside and enjoyed by the public will be under threat and will disappear,” the letter says.
“This would be a poor legacy for this government.”
Farmers and their tractors protest in Whitehall, London, over changes to inheritance tax rules in February. Pic: PA
Sir Keir Starmer’s government has made getting to net zero by 2050 a key goal, already initiating several policies to restrict carbon emissions and make the UK greener since winning the election last July.
However, the government shocked farmers in March when it shut down applications for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), which rewards farmers for managing their land in environmentally sustainable ways, with just a few hours’ notice as they said a cap had been reached for the year.
The rural organisations say the Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme payments are “critical to the government’s statutory targets on environmental improvement”, including the main goal of halting the decline of biodiversity.
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The letter states farmers and landowners are fully committed to environmental schemes, with 77,000 live agri-environment scheme agreements, according to the latest government figures, “with millions of hectares under environmental land management”.
“So much good has been done by these agreements, the oldest of which has run for decades,” the letter says.
“The unprecedented engagement in the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is testament to the appetite of farmers and land managers to rise to the challenge and do more.”
The letter finishes with: “The industry would like to have your assurances that this critical work will continue to be funded at the same level.”
Farmers said they may have to revert to intensive farming methods if funding is cut
David Wilson, a farmer for 53 years, told Sky News it took many years for farmers to get on board with the environmental schemes but they are now joined up, and reducing funding could damage years of work and be a backwards step for not just the UK’s environment, but the world’s.
“This is ultimately about sustainability. To produce good food, you need good ecology and reducing this funding could damage the UK’s ecology and our food security,” he added.
A return to intensive farming
Alex Robinson, 39, a farmer from Gloucestershire with 424 hectares, said the schemes have been “a lifeline for nature”, with birds, bees and wildflowers returning – including 14 red-listed bird species, many that had not been seen in decades.
His farm’s soil health is improving, which means he can grow more resilient nutrient dense crops for people to eat.
If funding is cut he said he “may have no choice but to return to intensive farming methods sooner than the soils are ready for”, with wildflowers and field margins becoming “difficult to justify”, which will put the UK’s climate, biodiversity and long-term food security “in real danger”.
Children on toy tractors during a farmers’ protest last November. Pic Reuters
Government will be abandoning nature
Signatory Victoria Vyvyan, farmer and president of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), said: “If sustainable farming contracts are cut, government won’t just abandon nature – it will abandon its own environmental and legal commitments.
“The Sustainable Farming Incentive is working – for farmers, for nature, for the public, and for the Treasury. It’s bringing back wildlife, cleaning up rivers, and restoring the health of our soil.
“Take away the funding for nature contracts, and farmers will be pushed back to intensive methods – forced to undo years of progress. Nature will suffer as well as farmers, and on the environment, it will go against everything government claims to agree with.”
The letter has been signed by the heads of The National Trust, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), the RSPB, the Soil Association, the CLA, the Tenant Farmers Association, the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Nature Friendly Farming Network, the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers, the National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs, the British Institute of Agricultural Consultants and the Agricultural Industries Confederation.
A government spokesman said they “do not comment on budget speculation”.