The Soil Association responds to news from the Climate Change Committee of the unequivocal evidence that climate change is making extreme weather in the UK more likely and more extreme and that there has been no change in addressing this with the change of Government.

Soil Association Policy Director Brendan Costelloe said: "News that the UK is woefully ill-prepared for the worst impacts of climate change is no surprise. The Government needs to take urgent action if it is going to rescue our climate, nature and future food resilience.

"We know that intensive farming, which depends on fossil fuel based fertilisers, is causing climate change whilst also being more vulnerable to its effects, which threatens our environment and our food security. We therefore need to see a rapid system wide transition to agroecological farming practices, such as organic, which reduce the environmental impact and not only secures our food system for the future but also secures the natural world too.

"We have more farmers than ever wanting to transition to organic, so it's vital that the Government restores support that was frozen recently alongside other SFI payments, so farmers can begin that journey immediately. 

"More broadly, the Government needs to reinstate all the SFI schemes that have been correctly targeted at improving soil quality, like cover crops and herbal leys. Improving soil quality is probably the most important thing farmers can do to protect themselves from floods and droughts, and deliver a climate resilient food system."