Climate Change: Support for Farmers

Earl of Caithness Excerpts

Thursday 23rd January 2025 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Caithness (Con)]

My Lords, agriculture is possibly unique in its relationship to climate change. At the same time it is a major cause, victim and source of solutions. I have often spoken about the need for farming to reduce its environmental footprint, but I stress that this can and must happen at the same time as an increase in farm productivity. The world needs to increase food production and availability by up to 70% over the next 25 years to keep pace with the needs of a rapidly expanding global population. As the right reverend Prelate said—and I thank him for introducing this debate—our agricultural productivity growth is negligible.

To help farmers cope with the changing climate, there must be a long-term strategic plan for managing water scarcity and flooding events, and the infrastructure to capture, store and move water in times of plenty, taking a whole-catchment approach. Managing the wider landscape by improving soil management to increase the rate at which water permeates the ground, reducing surface run-off, is an additional approach to managing flood risk.

Although a simple beetle bank of coarse grasses planted on a slope, as invented by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, can increase water infiltration rates by up to nine times, Rothamsted Research argues that the winter rain is now so great that multiple lines of defence are needed. Within SFI there are some useful options to help farmers, but will the Government consider incentivising farmers to employ and install treatment drains, given the huge environmental benefits to be gained? That would be an easy and cheap win.

We cannot afford to overlook the contribution of science and innovation, not only in improving the productivity and efficiency of farming but in directly reducing GHG emissions. Gene editing is one such opportunity, and I wholeheartedly welcome the recent confirmation from Defra that the secondary legislation needed to implement the precision breeding Act will be introduced to Parliament by the end of March this year.

Alongside gene editing, from methane-inhibiting feed additives and green fertilisers to novel proteins and precision farming, there are enormous opportunities for scientific innovation to help farmers both adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Many are discussed in the new report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture, of which I am a member, entitled Farming Innovations to Deliver Net Zero, which I commend to the House. It has been produced in advance of Agri-Science Week in Parliament, which the all-party group is hosting in the Upper Waiting Hall next week. Has the Minister read the report, and will he encourage all Defra and Treasury Ministers to visit the exhibition next week?