Farming schemes are being critically underfunded, according to analysis published by the Wildlife Trusts.
In research released today, the organisation said England’s Environmental Land Management schemes faced a “funding gap” of over £2bn.
Although the government allocated £1.7bn to its ELMs budget over the past year, the charity estimated the scale of financial investment needed to meet England’s environmental priorities would be “a minimum” of £3.8bn a year.
The gulf in funding was laid bare when the second Sustainable Farming Incentive window, which had an allocation of £233m, closed within six hours of opening on 22 September due to the scale of demand from farmers.
With farmers “facing a cacophony of crises”, Vicki Hird, strategic lead of agriculture at the Wildlife Trusts, said “the coming year could be make or break for many”.
“Wild swings in extreme weather, driven by climate change, have decimated crop production, leaving the UK facing its most severe food security pressures in decades,” she added. “Without action, the system we all rely upon could collapse.”
The warning comes ahead of the budget, due to be unveiled on Wednesday, which is expected to be focused on tackling the soaring cost of living.
But the Wildlife Trusts argued ELMs were “vital” for sustaining climate resilient food security and lowering food prices, meaning that “funding should therefore match the scale of need”.
“Properly funding farmer-led nature-based solutions can make farmland and crops more resilient to flooding and drought by rewetting land, rebuilding soil health, supporting water management and restoring nature,” added Hird.
“ELMs are the means to do this, but funding has been effectively frozen for years as the need for support rises sharply and inflation has soared,” she added. “The Chancellor must dig deep to fund schemes that mitigate climate change, sustain farmers’ livelihoods and lower food prices, easing inflationary pressures and the economic crisis.”
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