Reynolds: Backing farmers with a new era of partnership to boost farm profitability

• Environment Secretary announces plans at Oxford Farming Conference focusing more support on smaller farms and those without an existing agreement to drive growth, secure a thriving future for the sector, and deliver high quality, affordable food

Our farmers are essential for the nation's food security, the Environment Secretary will say, setting out a new era of partnership between government and farmers aimed at boosting profitability. 

Speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference on Thursday 8 January, Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds will announce a package of measures to ensure the government works in partnership with farmers to drive growth, secure a thriving future for the sector, and deliver high quality, affordable food for British families.   

She will announce reforms to the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), designed to simplify the scheme, level the playing field, and provide stable, predictable delivery.  

She will set out how there will be two application windows in 2026, with the first from June prioritising smaller farms and those without an existing agreement, followed by a second round from September for wider applications.

The government will continue working with the sector to refine these proposals and full scheme details will be published before the first application window opens. 

The Environment Secretary will also outline a new £30 million Farmer Collaboration Fund to support farmer groups in growing their businesses, building partnerships and sharing best practice. This will empower them to find new opportunities to grow their businesses, share what works, build partnerships, and drive the kind of change that comes from the ground up.

Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds is expected to say:  

Farmers are at the heart of our national life – for what you produce, the communities you sustain, and the landscapes and heritage you protect. 

British farming is also a key growth sector we're backing for the long term. Farmers who want to build, to export and to invest in new technology.  

But too often, they've been held back by bureaucracy. We're changing that to a system that backs our farmers.

The Secretary of State also set her vision to work in partnership with farmers:

We will work with you – through our new Farming and Food Partnership Board, through peer-to-peer networks, through community-led change, and through engagement on the detailed changes to SFI.   

You will have the certainty you need to plan – clear budgets, clear timelines, clear future roadmap, and growth built on strong foundations. 

That's my commitment to you and it's the foundation for the future we're building together, to drive growth, secure a thriving future for the sector, and deliver high quality, affordable food for British families.

The Environment Secretary will also set out plans exploring a transformation of England's uplands, recognising the unique challenges facing the rural communities that depend on them, from poor access to services to harsh farming conditions.  

Building on research led by social entrepreneur Dr Hilary Cottam in six upland areas during the past year, the government will work over the next two years – first in Dartmoor, then Cumbria – to deliver system-wide change, create farming clusters, explore new mutual funding models, and lay the foundations for new income streams, from nature-based enterprises to regenerative tourism and circular economy initiatives. 

In an additional boost for farmers in England's most treasured rural areas, the government will extend the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme for three years, with £30 million in funding next year alone.  

Since its launch, the programme has supported more than 11,000 farmers across 44 protected landscapes in enhancing nature recovery, tackling climate change, and preserving cultural heritage, including the planting of 362km of new hedgerows, equivalent to the distance of Oxford to Newcastle.  

These measures build on the launch of the Farming and Food Partnership Board, bringing together senior leaders from farming, food, retail, finance and government to take a joined-up, farm-to-fork approach to improving profitability. 

Alongside Baroness Minette Batters' Farming Profitability Review, these new partnerships will help inform the government's forthcoming 25-year Farming Roadmap, to be published later this year and setting out a clear, long-term vision for food production, environmental ambition, land use, and farm profitability.