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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help support high-yield, productive farming in the context of its environmental targets.

We are investing £2.7 billion a year into sustainable food production and nature’s recovery, with funding for our Environmental Land Management schemes increasing by 150%.

We have more farmers than ever in nature friendly farming schemes and are reforming the Sustainable Farming Incentive to target funds fairly and effectively towards food, farming and nature priorities. We will announce further details later this year.

Additionally, up to £110 million is available in new grant competitions starting in 2025/26. These grants will support research and innovation, technology and equipment for farmers to boost farm businesses, food production, and the natural environment

Furthermore, our farming roadmap ‘Farming 2050: Growing England’s Future’ will involve government working with farmers and farming and environmental organisation representatives to set the course of farming over the next 25 years. It will provide a vision for our farming sector and set the direction for how we get there, with a focus on delivering our food security and environmental objectives and supporting farms to be resilient and profitable. Publication is planned later this year.