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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to increase access to independent agronomic advice for farmers in advance of proposed changes in agricultural legislation under the Agriculture Bill 2017-19.

There are already a range of independent organisations that offer agronomic advice to farmers. This includes the Association of Independent Crop Consultants who provide advice to growers covering 3.5 million acres in the UK.

In terms of designing future schemes, we will work closely with farmers, stakeholders and other organisations to consider the role of specialist advice in helping land managers deliver environmental benefits through the new Environmental land management (ELM) scheme.