Organisation welcomes additional environmental support for farmers but calls for more detail on schemes and their duration
LEAF has welcomed the announcement from farming minister Mark Spencer that farmers will get increased payments under the government’s Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes.
Farmers and landowners are set to receive more money for protecting and enhancing nature and delivering sustainable food production under ELMs, farming minister Mark Spencer announced at the Oxford Farming Conference on 5 January. This will come through both the Countryside Stewardship and the Sustainable Farming Incentive schemes.
The provision of additional support for smaller farmers and tenant farmers was also welcomed by LEAF given those producers’ “important role in protecting and enhancing the environment alongside food production”.
Nevertheless, LEAF stressed that farmers still “desperately need” detail on the future schemes and reassurances that funds will remain in place beyond 2024.
“Delivering the UK’s legally binding environmental targets, and the habitats required to meet the biodiversity targets agreed at COP15, requires long-term commitment and investment from the Government,” Lsaid EAF technical director Vicky Robinson. “This is currently lacking and risks slowing the pace required to deliver these vital outcomes…
“We look forward to continuing to support the government as it develops the details that are urgently required to deliver their recommendations and targets on net zero, biodiversity and landscape enhancement.”
