Farming News - Comments on DEfra budget cut from Strutt & Parker + SA
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Comments on DEfra budget cut from Strutt & Parker + SA
DEFRA budget Cut
Strutt & Parker:
From Jason Beedell, rural research director at Strutt & Parker, on the spending review:
"It's hard to decipher the exact implications of the Spending Review for Defra.
"The Government says it will invest more than £2.7 billion per year in sustainable farming and nature recovery from 2026‑27 until 2028‑29. Of this, £2.3bn will be funnelled through the Farming and Countryside Programme, which includes the Environmental Land Management schemes. But given the National Audit Office reported in June 2024 that Defra had committed to spend £2.4bn a year on the farming sector between 2020-21 and 2023-24 that appears to be a cut of around 4%. While the Government also states that farmers will get up to £400m from additional nature schemes, what they are is not specified. It feels like we need more detail. Farmers will need to wait for clarity on how individual schemes like the Sustainable Farming Incentive may be impacted, although Defra has already signalled that the reset scheme is likely to target smaller farms.
"A 10% real-terms cut to Defra's administration budget is in line with other departments and we hope at least in part will be offset by spending to address historical IT challenges. It is interesting to note the Government's ambition to drive efficiencies by introducing a common grants platform – and possibly a single grants delivery body – to handle grants and payment administration. A single platform makes sense in principle to streamline delivery and reduce duplication. However, experience shows that the roll-out of new digital systems can bring short-term challenges and it will be important that any transition is carefully managed to minimise disruption for farmers.
"Farmers are operating in a radically different policy environment to five years ago. Long-term clarity is what businesses now need to plan, invest, and build resilience."
"The Government says it will invest more than £2.7 billion per year in sustainable farming and nature recovery from 2026‑27 until 2028‑29. Of this, £2.3bn will be funnelled through the Farming and Countryside Programme, which includes the Environmental Land Management schemes. But given the National Audit Office reported in June 2024 that Defra had committed to spend £2.4bn a year on the farming sector between 2020-21 and 2023-24 that appears to be a cut of around 4%. While the Government also states that farmers will get up to £400m from additional nature schemes, what they are is not specified. It feels like we need more detail. Farmers will need to wait for clarity on how individual schemes like the Sustainable Farming Incentive may be impacted, although Defra has already signalled that the reset scheme is likely to target smaller farms.
"A 10% real-terms cut to Defra's administration budget is in line with other departments and we hope at least in part will be offset by spending to address historical IT challenges. It is interesting to note the Government's ambition to drive efficiencies by introducing a common grants platform – and possibly a single grants delivery body – to handle grants and payment administration. A single platform makes sense in principle to streamline delivery and reduce duplication. However, experience shows that the roll-out of new digital systems can bring short-term challenges and it will be important that any transition is carefully managed to minimise disruption for farmers.
"Farmers are operating in a radically different policy environment to five years ago. Long-term clarity is what businesses now need to plan, invest, and build resilience."
Soil Association:
The Chancellor's spending review has today revealed that spending in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has been cut in real terms by 2.7% a year.
Soil Association Director of Policy Brendan Costelloe said: “The farming and nature settlement will have been hard won by Defra ministers, but it still amounts to real term cuts and it will now be even harder for the Government to reach its environmental targets. Given the scale of the challenge, it's more critical than ever that spending is targeted at those areas that do most to deliver transformational change.
"We want the government to treat food system transformation as seriously as it treats the green energy transition. This means continued support in SFI for regenerating soils – the ‘renewable energy’ of the food system. Building soil fertility allows farmers to reduce their dependency on harmful chemicals, and it lays the foundations for a widespread transition to nature-friendly farming. Increased investment in agroforestry can also play a critical role in building farm resilience and national food security, by helping to protect farms from the increasing impacts of climate change.
“The Government also needs to support farmers who do the most to improve the environment and give animals the highest standards of welfare. This means continued support for organic farming, including the urgent reinstatement of transition support for the increasing numbers of farmers who want to convert to organic. It is also vital that farmers are given the support and tools necessary to benchmark and monitor environmental outcomes on their farms.”
Soil Association Director of Policy Brendan Costelloe said: “The farming and nature settlement will have been hard won by Defra ministers, but it still amounts to real term cuts and it will now be even harder for the Government to reach its environmental targets. Given the scale of the challenge, it's more critical than ever that spending is targeted at those areas that do most to deliver transformational change.
"We want the government to treat food system transformation as seriously as it treats the green energy transition. This means continued support in SFI for regenerating soils – the ‘renewable energy’ of the food system. Building soil fertility allows farmers to reduce their dependency on harmful chemicals, and it lays the foundations for a widespread transition to nature-friendly farming. Increased investment in agroforestry can also play a critical role in building farm resilience and national food security, by helping to protect farms from the increasing impacts of climate change.
“The Government also needs to support farmers who do the most to improve the environment and give animals the highest standards of welfare. This means continued support for organic farming, including the urgent reinstatement of transition support for the increasing numbers of farmers who want to convert to organic. It is also vital that farmers are given the support and tools necessary to benchmark and monitor environmental outcomes on their farms.”