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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps is she taking to help ensure farmers are prepared for more frequent periods of extreme heat.

As set out in the Farming Roadmap, the Government is backing farmers with the largest nature-friendly budget in history to support farmers and land managers to help restore nature and boost farm productivity, which in turn protects food security and builds resilience to extreme heat and other consequences of climate change.

As of December 2025, an equivalent to 69% of the utilised agricultural area of England was covered by Defra agri-environment schemes. The Government has since launched the SFI to help more farmers access these schemes.

Last month the Government announced an extra £50 million for Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 Window 2, taking the total budget for SFI26 to £290 million and helping more farmers access support.