It’s fantastic to be with you all here today. I’m delighted to have this opportunity to speak to so many people.
It’s exciting to be here at Groundswell with the pioneers and innovators who are shaping the future of British farming.
I’ve really been looking forward to coming to Groundswell because I know this is where the big ideas are taking shape.
You’re confronting the challenges of the future by drawing on the power of the past, looking at how we can use regenerative agriculture to shape the future of farming, and inspiring others to get involved in those approaches.
You’ve been the ones to break the mould, championing the vital role of nature in sustainable food production from the start – the pioneers of an agricultural transition that must be just and must recognise the importance of community and tradition as we shape that future.
Protecting British food security has never been more important. We’ve just had our warmest spring on record. Flooding is on the rise. Geopolitical events are threatening global food supply chains.
Food security is national security. And you, more than anyone, know it’s only by restoring nature that we can make our food secure.
Restoring nature is central to the Government’s approach.
In the Spending Review, we committed to spend £2.7 billion a year on sustainable farming and nature’s recovery over the next three years.
Funding for farmers through the Environmental Land Management schemes will increase by 150 per cent to £2 billion by 2029. And a further £400 million will be available from other nature schemes, including projects for tree planting and peatland restoration.
This is the biggest financial investment in nature-friendly farming in our country’s history.
Take a moment to compare this to 2017, when Groundswell first started. Back then, £350 million was invested into ELMs’ predecessor.
Thanks to your efforts, nature-friendly farming has come a very long way in the past nine years.
There are now over 39,000 SFI agreements producing fantastic results for nature. That’s something to celebrate.
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We’ve got the money out the door into farmers’ bank accounts, and I’m proud of that. But once you’ve spent a budget, you can’t keep spending it or you damage the economy, and we’re not doing that.
Those farmers who missed out at the time the scheme closed to new applicants will be able to make claims once it reopens. But budgets can’t be unlimited, so we need to make sure we focus that public money where it’s going to make the biggest impact.
Farms are businesses, and all businesses need to be profitable to survive. I see it as central to my job to help make farming profitable.
I firmly believe the Sustainable Farming Incentive and ELMs are the best tools to support farmers’ transition to sustainable food production and to profitability.
Later this summer, I will provide more details of our reformed SFI offer. We are working with farmers to shape the scheme, which will start accepting applications in the new year.
We need to return firmly to the principle of public money for public goods.
Our reformed SFI will maximise benefits for the environment, particularly around water quality and biodiversity, so we can clean up our polluted rivers, welcome wildlife back to farms, and strengthen the natural foundations that are vital to sustainable food production.
We will simplify the SFI and support farmers to take on packages of actions which, when done together, achieve more for nature. And I know we need to upgrade the IT system so it’s easier for farmers to submit applications.
That is part of my broader plan to rewire and reset Defra, to remove the bureaucracy and barriers that stand in the way of people getting the support they need.
More environmental benefits, a simpler offer, supporting farmers through the transition, a focus on profitability, and visibility of the overall budget so we get it out the door and you know when it’s going to be fully allocated.
This will be the shape of our reformed SFI.
We’re also reopening our Capital Grants offer today – with £150 million in the latest round to invest in nature-friendly farming.
That includes funding to plant hedgerows, buy equipment that will help clean up our rivers, or restore habitats that support biodiversity.
Farmers and land managers can apply for a total of 78 items under the latest round, including four new items on woodland condition, wildlife management, stone walls and educational visits.
We’ve taken time to assess and improve our offer. Putting funding limits on certain actions will ensure we manage budgets fairly so we can open the grants over a longer period of time.
The SFI and Capital Grants form part of a much wider reset for farming.
We want to support farmers to run profitable and financially resilient businesses that produce nutritious, high-quality food and other produce, and help to restore nature at the same time.
Our 25-Year Farming Roadmap will outline our shared vision for the sector and set the direction for how we get there. It will give farmers clarity, stability and transparency.
This will be a transition led by farm businesses, drawing on your experiences and your expertise.
With government as the enabler, but farmers as the leaders.
We’ve seen how effective farm clusters can be in supporting nature over a wider area – an initiative led by the sector which the Government can support.
I’ve asked Baroness Minette Batters, former NFU President, to lead a review into how we can boost farm profitability – and she has written to the sector to get your ideas to inform the review.
And we’re continuing to work with the Farm Tenancy Forum to ensure tenant farmers can access our reformed farming schemes.
The farming sector is also leading the way on innovation.
Agri-tech is one of our highest growth sectors, with 40 times the number of UK agri-tech businesses than we had ten years ago.
Our ADOPT programme puts farmers in the driving seat, giving them the chance to test new technologies on their farm – such as solar panels on soft polytunnels or cultivation equipment to improve soil health in potato production.
Under the Government’s Industrial Strategy, we are taking this further. We’re investing over £200 million in the Farming Innovation Programme between now and 2030, as well as launching an Agri-Tech Export Accelerator Programme to help agri-tech businesses identify the best international markets.
It’s been an interesting year, and certainly far from always straightforward.
But we are now at a point where we can make things work better for farmers, food production and nature. I strongly believe in nature-positive farming. It is the way we can help farming to become more sustainable and successful both environmentally and financially.
You are the pioneers. I’m here to learn. Together we can give farming the bright and exciting future it, and our countryside, needs and deserves.
