Farmers need £3bn backing to restore natural environment
HARD on the heels of the recent worldwide demonstrations against ‘Climate Change’, three of the country’s largest conservation charities have today called on the UK government to put its money where its mouth is – after new figures reveal that at least £3 billion is needed to support our farmers and land managers to help restore nature and tackle climate change on their land.
The UK currently spends around £3.2 billion a year on both farm income support and environmental payments under the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
New data published today reveals that we need to re-invest this money to support nature-friendly farming. The RSPB, National Trust and The Wildlife Trusts say a long-term financial commitment to pay farmers and land managers is needed if they are to help the UK Government and devolved administrations meet their respective commitments to recover the natural environment and address the climate crisis.
For decades, farmers have struggled within the CAP’s food and farming system that delivers little profit for their produce and few incentives to deliver positive outcomes for the environment.
Once we leave the EU and these payments stop, alternative policies will need to be put in place in each of the four UK countries.
The £3bn is required to pay for the recovery of farmland wildlife, such as lapwing, hares and pollinating insects, to create and enhance wildlife habitats, including wildflower meadows, peatlands and native woodlands, protect our precious soils and cut greenhouse gas emissions by restoring ecosystems, planting trees and hedges.
If the government wants farmers to get on board with restoring nature it must provide the certainty and security of long-term funding, backed by first class and first-hand advisory services.
This new evidence really develops our understanding of what investment this will cost to deliver.
Ellie Brodie, senior policy manager at The Wildlife Trusts, said: “Nature is in big trouble, with one report after another highlighting steep wildlife declines.
“Farmers and land managers are uniquely placed to help it recover as they farm around three quarters of our land.
“It’s crucial that farmers receive advice on how to help wildlife – as well as incentives to do the work required – but it needs to be paid for.”
Truth is, we need a strong Environment Bill with ambitious targets for nature’s recovery and to secure the principle of spending public money on public goods in the Agriculture Bill.
However, in my view, with all the shenanigans going on at the moment, no one in power will be giving too much thought about the planet, as they are ALL too preoccupied with trying to further their own interests.
As we know it’s not an ‘ideal world’, but we could help by creating bigger, better natural habitats, boosting pollinators, investing in healthy soils, cleaning up polluted rivers, managing land upstream to stop flooding downstream and bringing back wildlife are all things that are good for farmers and good for the wider population too.
How much will this all cost you might ask?
Initial research commissioned by RSPB, National Trust and The Wildlife Trusts in 2017, showed that at least £2.3bn would be needed to achieve the UK’s environmental land management priorities.
This has now been updated to reflect the latest data and to take into account other factors, such as the costs of providing supporting advice and to lock-in the public goods associated with long-term land use change.
This research suggests that at least £2.9 billion a year is needed.
It is important to note that the research relates to the costs associated with government support for nature-friendly farming, it does not cost everything we need to do across the UK to recover our natural environment and achieve net zero carbon across all sectors.
Crucially, this research demonstrates that supporting naturefriendly and climatefriendly farming is affordable.
We can re-invest the public money already spent on farming to deliver public goods whilst nurturing a sustainable and resilient farming and land management sector.