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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made on boosting innovation in the organic sector; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing research and development funding for organic and agroecological innovation.

We work closely with organic producers and sector bodies on promoting innovation via a sector led approach. The sector has a number of exciting programmes working towards this goal, and we believe that farmer led training and support best provides for innovation that suits the needs of the industry.

The Soil Association Innovative Farmers programme brings together a network of farmers, researchers, advisors and businesses to share expertise and develop new approaches to organic farming. The English Organic Forum, Organics Research Council, National Farmers Union, and the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, also produce research of relevance to the organics sector.

From 2022 we will launch an ambitious Innovation R&D Package, putting farming businesses at the centre of R&D for new technologies and practices - including organic farming practices - to transform the productivity, profitability and sustainability of agriculture.

As highlighted in the recently published Agricultural Transition Plan, we will build on previous R&D funding, such as the £160m 2013 Agri-tech Strategy and the £90m Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund 'Transforming Food Production' initiative, to provide additional investment. This will be administered through a new R&D funding package for England.

Application guidance will be published prior to scheme launch, including a summary of application deadlines, funding criteria, timetable and themes. Competitions are expected to open in early 2022, with communication to farmers and growers in advance, and projects are expected to begin later that year.