Hundreds of farmers contact MPs with concerns over ELMS row-back
20th October 2022
More than 300 British farmers have reportedly written to their MPs, following rumours that the government could be set to scrap or water down environmental initiatives.
In a letter co-ordinated by the Nature Friendly Farming Network, farmers called for the full rollout of key reforms to the farming sector, aimed at enhancing wildlife, reducing greenhouse emissions and promoting nature conservation and restoration.
Last month, then prime minister Liz Truss announced a review of the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS). Having been in development for six years, critics fear the review could result in the scheme being watered down.
The letter, which was sent to 148 Conservative MPs, noted that farmers were “promised agricultural policies that would make our farms the standard bearers for quality, sustainability, and profitability”. Signatories warned that weakening environmental incentives would be “a poor use of public funds and wholly against the direction of travel within the sector”.
Senior figures in the Conservative government to have criticised the proposals include Michael Gove and William Hague, as well as the Conservative Environment Network (CEN), whose director Sam Hall described ELMS as “critical for both food security and farm profitability”.
Meanwhile, business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg appeared to contradict the then prime minister’s plans to ban solar panels from most English farmland.
Working with nature
The move to review long-held environmental commitments to farming coincides with a new report from the Nature Friendly Farming Network, which argues that if the government wants to prioritise food security, then nature and climate-based reforms are of critical importance.
‘Rethink Food’ points out that the war in Ukraine, the Covid pandemic and Brexit-related labour shortages have exposed the fragilities of the farming industry, and states that in order to build a truly resilient and productive sector, farmers must be encouraged to work with nature.
The report argues that a return to something like the Common Agricultural Policy would “pit farming and nature against each other”, and that 60 years of the subsidy scheme “increased economic precarity for farmers”, “undermined nature and climate” and “failed to deliver diverse and healthy nutrition”.
Today’s announcement (20th October) that Liz Truss has resigned as prime minister casts further doubt and uncertainty on the government’s plans.
“It has to stop”
Martin Lines, UK chair of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, argued that farmers urgently need a clear vision for the future, and ELMS must work for farms of all sizes and systems.
“There is already much evidence showing how nature-friendly farming provides greater profitability, resilience and the foundations to build sustainable enterprises. When we farm this way, our businesses go from strength to strength,” he claims.
“Our rural environments are improved to the benefit of local communities. It’s time the Government stood by its commitment in 2019 and joined the solutions to achieving a multifunctional landscape that produces food, recovers biodiversity and delivers ambitious climate action.”
Sam Hall, director of the Conservative Environment Network also said it is critical that the government continues with the roll out of ELMS, to properly reward farmers who want to adopt more nature-friendly practices.
Meanwhile, River Action chairman and founder Charles Watson, said: “Over the last few weeks we’ve seen raw sewage pumped into our rivers and oceans and a long-held promise to improve our food and farming systems scrapped – something everyone in the sector knows we desperately need. The government is stripping away protections for nature by the day. It has to stop.”
News of the government’s review of ELMS prompted concern last month, with farmers and environmentalists alike concerned that provisions within the scheme could be scrapped or watered down.
However, in response to the rumours, Defra commented at the time: ‘We’re not scrapping the schemes. In light of the pressures farmers are facing as a result of the current global economic situation, including spikes in input costs, it’s only right that we look at how best to deliver the schemes to see where and how improvements can be made.’
NFU president Minette Batters also welcomed the review of ELMS, arguing that the scheme was not ‘fit for purpose’ in its current form.
