Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (): This statement follows the
recent announcement(opens in a new
tab) made by my Noble Friend of Richmond Park on 8
September 2021 on the government’s commitment to publish a new
Soil Health Action Plan for England and to outline further
details on this upcoming plan.
Soil is a rich ecosystem and the Soil Health Action Plan will
take a natural capital approach to improving its health by
considering the numerous biological, chemical and physical
attributes of soil. It will support sustainable management of
soil by bringing together a range of actions to improve and
protect the health of our soil. This will include delivering key
ecosystem services and wider benefits and outcomes such as
increased biodiversity, carbon storage, food production and flood
mitigation. It will also provide certainty to farmers and land
managers around the acceptable condition of all soil types.
The Action Plan will ensure England’s soil is sustainably managed
by 2030 demonstrating leadership in delivering a coherent plan
for soil health. It will focus on preventing soil degradation and
improving soil health, and look at how land management practices
and planning can be adapted to help protect soil from the impact
of climate change.
The Sustainable Farming Incentive is a key focus of the Action
Plan and will support sustainable approaches to farm husbandry
that deliver for the environment and improve soil health. This
could include the introduction of herbal leys, and the use of
grass-legume mixtures or cover crops. Healthy soil can also
support farm productivity.
The Action Plan will include the development of a healthy soil
indicator, soil structure monitoring methodology and a soil
health monitoring scheme to help land managers and farmers track
the health of our soil over time and the impact of their
management practices. These actions will create a robust baseline
from which we can monitor improvements in soil health, identify
trends and support informed policy decisions, including any
future environmental targets for soil health. The Action Plan
will also outline how soil health improvements will help deliver
against our wider environmental targets, including our historic
2030 target to halt the decline in species abundance.
The Soil Health Action Plan for England will provide a single,
strategic approach to achieving these multiple outcomes and
driving improved soil health across England, and we currently
intend to consult on the framework next Spring.
