Cutting the budget for nature-friendly farming would be “devastating” for wildlife and rural communities, the Government has been warned.
Environmentalists warned that cutting the spend on the post-Brexit farming schemes, which pay farmers and landowners to deliver public goods such as hedgerows, wildflower habitat and clean water, would “remove all hope” of the Government meeting targets to reverse nature’s declines.
And farmers, who have already been hit by changes to inheritance tax and the abrupt closure of this year’s sustainable farming incentive (SFI), the biggest strand of the environmental land management scheme (Elms), said cuts would be “disastrous”.
The warnings come in the face of reports that the Environment Department (Defra’s) nature-friendly farming budget, which has replaced EU agricultural subsidies based mostly on the amount of land farmed, will be cut in the forthcoming spending review.
The Government announced a “record” £5 billion spending over two years on sustainable farming, but the long term future of the funding looks threatened by looming departmental cuts, while there are concerns cash could be targeted at small farms or in certain areas rather than across the countryside.
Environmentalists warned that the nature-friendly farming budget was the UK’s biggest spend on nature and, with 70% of land used for farming, key to meeting the Government’s manifesto pledge to achieve targets to halt declines in nature by 2030.
Barnaby Coupe, senior land use policy manager at The Wildlife Trusts, says: “Rumours of further cuts to the farming budget are deeply concerning and, if true, would cripple funding for restoring nature and remove all hope of reaching the Government’s targets for wildlife recovery.”
He warned the £2.5 billion a year in the current farming budget “already falls short” of what was needed, adding: “Whittling this down further will see progress stall and reverse.”
“If the cuts go ahead, the Government’s promise to bring back wildlife will be in tatters – and farmers will be left unsupported to adapt to extreme climate change and exposed to the whims of market forces demanding unsustainable and intensified food production.”
Richard Benwell, chief of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said: “Cutting the nature-friendly farming budget would be devastating for nature, farmers and rural communities.”
He said that a transition to nature-friendly farming could help reverse declines in rivers, woodland, wildflowers and wildlife, at the same time as reducing air, soil and water pollution, and supporting a thriving profitable farming sector and rural communities.
“But without a decent budget to pay farmers for the environmental benefits they provide, the future of entire ecosystems will be in doubt.”
Martin Lines, chief executive of the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN), said: “These cuts would be disastrous if implemented, with the negative impact felt far beyond farming and reaching the wider public.
“Investing in nature-friendly farming helps protect communities from the devastation of flooding.
“It reduces the impact of climate change by protecting and restoring carbon-storing habitats such as peatland.
“It also supports the delivery of affordable, renewable energy.”
He said that if the Government was serious about sustainable growth and long-term food production, it needed to invest in England’s landscapes, adding: “Farmers are ready to play their part, but they are being let down by ministers turning off the funding tap.
“The simplest, most cost-effective solution to the problems we face is to invest now.
“If we fail to act, and wait until the impacts of climate change worsen, the cost will be far higher,” he warned.
National Farmers’ Union president Tom Bradshaw said: “Alongside numerous rural, environmental and nature groups, including the RSPB and National Trust, we have repeatedly called for government to honour its commitments, with budget and partnership, to protect nature and restore habitats through agriculture.
“But without funding, this will be government giving up on its own environmental targets – targets which it relied on farmers to deliver.”
He warned that farmers would be left “prioritising economic returns and balancing tough choices between farming the land as hard as they can just to make a living and continuing to focus on environmental works they have been proud to deliver”.
And he said farms of all sizes had a key role in helping deliver for food, nature and climate.
Defra said it would not comment on speculation.
