Eustice unveils plans for greener farming
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New details of flagship Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme
unveiled Farmers to play key role in meeting net zero and reversing
environmental declines Environment Secretary to set out vision for
future farming Environment Secretary George Eustice has
today (Tuesday 25 February) called on farmers and land managers to
share their views on the government’s flagship green farming scheme
outside the EU. Speaking ahead of the National...Request free trial
Environment Secretary George Eustice has today (Tuesday 25
February) called on farmers and land managers to share their
views on the government’s flagship green farming scheme outside
the EU.
Speaking ahead of the National Farmers'
Union’s (NFU) annual conference tomorrow (Wednesday 26 February),
the Environment Secretary has announced that farmers will be at
the forefront of reversing environmental declines and tackling
climate change as they reshape the future of farming in the
21stcentury.
The government will today publish new details
on its future Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELM), which
will see farmers paid for work that enhances the environment,
such as tree or hedge planting, river management to mitigate
flooding, or creating or restoring habitats for
wildlife.
Moving away from a system that pays farmers
for the total amount of land farmed, the scheme will instead pay
for ‘public goods’ that benefit society, such as clean air and
water.
In his speech at the NFU Conference
tomorrow, Environment Secretary George Eustice is expected to
say:
“We can all agree that we want British farming
to be sustainable in the truest sense of the word, an industry
which is profitable, competitive, and productive while feeding
the nation and taking care of our landscapes too.
“This week we’ve published more detail on our
plans for the future and specifically on Environment Land
Management, outlining how we hope to work with our farmers, and
what to expect.
“Now more than ever, efforts for the
environment are absolutely critical, and no group has more power
to reverse environmental decline than our farmers”.
The new proposals unveiled today will include
three ‘tiers’ of entry to the scheme, enabling anyone from any
farm or land type to participate at the right level.
Tier one would encourage farmers to adopt
environmentally sustainable farming and forestry practices, while
farmers, foresters and other land managers in tier two
would focus on delivering locally-targeted environmental
outcomes. The third tier would pay for larger-scale,
transformational projects – such as restoring
peatland.
Farmers and land managers will have 10 weeks
to have their say on the details of the new scheme, with
government capturing their knowledge and experience to ensure it
does not repeat the mistakes of the EU’s burdensome Common
Agricultural Policy (CAP). This will be supported with a number
of regional events across the country for knowledge sharing
between farmers, land managers and foresters and Defra officials
designing the scheme.
The government has today also published a
future farming policy update, as the Agriculture Bill goes
through the Committee Stage in the House of Commons. This sets
out how future policies will be designed to ensure increased
productivity goes hand in hand with environmental initiatives,
with further detail on issues including:
The Secretary of State’s speech at the NFU conference
will be live-streamed from 8am. Details on how to stream the
speech can be found at: https://www.nfuonline.com/news/nfu-conference-2020/nfu-conference-2020-news/nfu20-watch-live-day-two-at-nfu-conference-2020/
The Environmental Land Management Scheme discussion
document will be open for views on Citizen
Space, and the future farming policy update is available
to read in full on GOV.UK.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
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