Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help support farmers pursue nature-friendly farming.

The Government’s Environmental Improvement Plan says we are aiming for between 65 to 80% of landowners and farmers to adopt nature friendly farming on at least 10-15% of their land by 2030.

This will be delivered through a range of measures. These include habitat restoration and creation; activities to reduce the impact of invasive non-native species on sites or to address pressures on sensitive areas; improvements in water storage and management; and changes to limit emissions while maintaining agricultural profitability and increasing productivity.

Farmers will be supported to deliver these measures through our Environmental Land Management schemes (Countryside Stewardship, the Sustainable Farming Incentive, and Landscape Recovery), the Farming Investment Funds and Farming Innovation Programme, woodland creation and tree health grants, and grants to assist with the cost of improved slurry infrastructure and equipment.

We will continue to work with farmers and land managers to ensure we achieve these targets in the most effective way, and in a way that works best for farmers and farm businesses and supports our commitment to maintain domestic food production.

These changes are effective, we are seeing over 100 farmers a day on average applying for the Sustainable Farming Incentive.