Conservationists are warning of a “monumental gap” between current funding and what is needed to help nature, as the Budget maintains farming spending at existing levels.
The Government has announced £5 billion for England’s farming budget over the next two years, maintaining the £2.4 billion current level for 2024/25 and 2025/26, and this year also includes a £200 million underspend from previous years.
The amount going to environmental land management schemes (Elms) will rise to a new high of £1.8 billion, as the new programme replaces the old EU-era subsidies based mostly on the amount of land farmed with payments for nature-friendly farming methods and habitat creation.
There is also £400 million over the two years for tree planting and peatland restoration schemes, which aim to restore habitat and store carbon to tackle climate change, which analysts said was broadly in line with funding for such schemes under the previous government.
There had been concerns the Environment Department (Defra) faced further cuts after years of spending squeezes, or that recent underspend in the farming budget would be clawed back by the Treasury as it seeks to plug what it has described as a “black hole” in the nation’s finances.
While Defra’s overall funding will rise slightly in real terms over this year and next, there is a slight reduction in its budget for day-to-day spending, and officials warned the farming and flood defences budgets faced £600 million of “funding pressures” – effectively unfunded spending commitments.
Elliot Chapman-Jones, head of public affairs for The Wildlife Trusts, said: “Nature-friendly farming is central to both nature recovery and food security.
“However, the overall farming budget remains largely the same, which makes the necessary improvements needed for nature much harder to achieve.”
He added the real-terms budget for farming was falling, and around £3.1 billion was needed for nature-friendly farming in England alone.
“Ultimately, there is a monumental gap between current funding and what is needed to reverse wildlife declines, clean up rivers and significantly reduce the use of chemicals on farms.”
Tom Lancaster, land, food and farming analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) think tank said all the budget did was “maintain the status quo, just about keeping the show on the road for now”.
“Much more funding will be needed at the next spending review to support farmers, avoid jeopardising climate targets and boost the resilience of farming to climate impacts like the devastating wet winter we experienced this year,” he said.
And the Country Land and Business Association’s (CLA) president Victoria Vyvyan said the decision to freeze the budget at the same level since 2014 would hit hard-pressed farmers, and the accelerated move from the old system of payments would be damaging to investment in farming.
And she warned: “It could hit sustainable food production and undermine improvements to wildlife habitats, flood management and access to nature.”
Clarkson’s Farm presenter Jeremy Clarkson also criticised the Government’s decision not to increase funding, urging farmers to “hang on in there” in a post on X.
He said: “Farmers. I know that you have been shafted today. But please don’t despair. Just look after yourselves for five short years and this shower will be gone.”
Farmers. I know that you have been shafted today. But please don’t despair. Just look after yourselves for five short years and this shower will be gone.
— Jeremy Clarkson (@JeremyClarkson) October 30, 2024
But Martin Lines, chief executive of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, said the decision to maintain funding in the budget was better news “than we could have hoped for in the lead-up to the Budget”.
“Increasing funding and prioritising nature-friendly farming will help put agriculture on a more sustainable footing and enable the changes required to continue feeding our nation as climate change presents ongoing challenges,” he said.
But he warned the levels of funding fell far short of the UK-wide £5.9 billion annual spend which countryside and environmental groups have said is needed to deliver on legal nature and climate targets and secure the future of British farming.
