‘Minimum environmental standards are essential for farming after Brexit’
ALL farmers and landowners should have to meet minimum standards to protect water, soil, wildlife and animal welfare after Brexit, campaigners have urged.
A farmer-led network says there must be “ambitious” minimum standards for the industry in the Agriculture Bill, which sets out policy for the sector as the UK leaves the EU, or long-term food security will be at risk.
The Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN) is calling on the Government to establish an independent regulator to set clear standards to safeguard, maintain and enhance animal welfare, the farming landscape and the industry.
An independent regulator should help farmers move towards naturefriendly practices with high environmental, production and animal health and welfare standards, the NFFN says.
The organisation, which was launched a year ago, warns soils have become depleted, water courses degraded and populations of birds, butterflies and other species such as hedgehogs have seen numbers fall significantly.
Its call to amend the Agriculture Bill to include minimum standards comes after a review on farm regulation for the Government said estimates suggest some of the most productive land will be lost within 40-60 years.
Ministers have set out plans to pay farmers for providing “public goods” such as habitat for wildlife, planting trees to curb flooding and managing soil well, after the UK leaves the EUwide Common Agricultural Policy subsidy scheme.
But the NFFN wants farmers who choose to focus exclusively on farm food production, using intensive methods, to be required to keep their land in “good heart”.
This would stop the environmental degradation that could undermine the land’s ability to produce food in the future, according to the organisation, which has more than 2,000 members including members of the farming sector and the public.
Targets in areas such as air and water quality and soil health will act as an incentive to those who are currently failing to deliver public goods alongside food production, the NFFN argues.
The call comes as Environment Secretary Michael Gove is set to address the Oxford Farming Conference and the Oxford Real Farming Conference on the future of agriculture after Brexit.
NFFN chairman Martin Lines said: “It is the Secretary of State’s duty to establish an independent regulator before it’s too late.
“We can only guarantee long-term food security by protecting and managing the natural assets which enable food production.
“If the Government does not amend the Bill to include minimum standards – and put a stop to the environmental degradation caused by intensive farming – British farmers will be in danger of losing their livelihoods.” David Sandford, the NFFN’s Northern Ireland chairman, added that as, custodians of more than 70% of the countryside, farmers were uniquely placed to produce food while restoring habitats to help wild-life. have He hindered said: “Sadly, this previous progress. policies There are examples of farmers taking the initiative to restore the numbers of yellow-hammers, barn owls and grey partridge, and these projects should and could be the norm if proper funding was available.”