Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the annual farming budget is for (a) 2025–26 and (b) 2026–27; and how the spending is broken down for each year.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament. On 12 March 2025 we set out how we planned to spend the budget (£5 billion) across the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years.
Scheme | Budget for 2024/25 and 2025/26 (£m) |
Delinked Payments | 1,050 |
Live existing agreements (Higher Level Stewardship and Countryside Stewardship) | 1,800 |
Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) | 1,050 |
Other environmental land management (ELM) schemes | 350 |
Farming grants (one-off payments to help improve the environment or increase productivity) | 350 |
Animal Health, Welfare and Livestock Information Transformation | 150 |
Mental health, Farming Resilience Fund, Prosperity Fund | 100 |
Advice, pilots and technical support | 150 |
Total | 5,000 |
On 16 June 2025, following the 2025 Spending Review, we set out indicative funding figures for the 2026-27 to 2028-29 financial years, including plans to increase the amount of money paid to farmers under Environmental Land Management schemes from £800m in 2023/24 towards £2bn by 2028/29.
Indicative funding (£ million) | 2026–27 |
Delinked payments | 20 |
Environmental land management schemes | 1,950 |
Other (productivity, innovation, transition) | 350 |
Farming and Countryside Programme | 2,320 |
Nature schemes | 450 |
Farming and Nature total | 2,770 |
Please note final allocations will be agreed through departmental planning.
In line with its obligations under the Agriculture Act 2020, Defra regularly publishes an annual report, setting out commitments in the previous financial year, including Farming and Countryside Programme spend broken down by each scheme. The latest report covers the financial year 2024/25, and can be accessed here: Farming and Countryside Programme annual report.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department's policies of the report by Science for Sustainable Agriculture entitled UK Food Security – Outlook to 2050, published in September 2025.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In the recently published Land Use Framework, the Government made a clear, long-term commitment to maintain overall food production in England by increasing farm productivity and profitability.
The Government will support this ambition through a range of measures, including the new Farming and Food Partnership Board, developing sector plans to underpin our future food security and drive economic growth and safeguarding the best and most versatile farmland from permanent land use change.
Defra monitors all key agricultural commodities closely. The UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group tracks UK agricultural markets including price, supply, inputs, trade, and recent developments.
The UK Food Security Report in 2027 will assess dependence on food imports, and any permanent changes in agricultural land use will be included in future Food Security Reports.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to take legislative steps to ensure food self-sufficiency does not fall below its current level.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In the recently published Land Use Framework, the Government made a clear, long-term commitment to maintain overall food production in England by increasing farm productivity and profitability.
The Government will support this ambition through a range of measures, including the new Farming and Food Partnership Board, developing sector plans to underpin our future food security and drive economic growth and safeguarding the best and most versatile farmland from permanent land use change.
Defra monitors all key agricultural commodities closely. The UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group tracks UK agricultural markets including price, supply, inputs, trade, and recent developments.
The UK Food Security Report in 2027 will assess dependence on food imports, and any permanent changes in agricultural land use will be included in future Food Security Reports.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she is taking steps to increase domestic production of plant proteins for direct human consumption in the UK.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is monitoring scientific developments in alternative proteins and supporting UK Research and Innovation-funded initiatives such as the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre.
Sector Growth Plans (SGPs) will take a sector approach to focus on achieving good growth in the horticulture sector by improving farm productivity, increasing profitability, and strengthening the contribution of domestically produced food for national security. SGPs work with the Farming and Food Partnership Board to bring industry and Government together to develop a shared, evidence-based view of opportunities, constraints, and trade-offs. The Government and the Farming and Food Advisory Board have recognised significant profit and productivity opportunities in the horticulture sector, and work on the plan is already underway by the sector expert groups.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what financial assistance the Government plans to make available to businesses required to make operational or regulatory changes as a result of a future UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government is working to support businesses to prepare for future changes to sanitary and phytosanitary arrangements with the European Union. Negotiations are ongoing. An agreement will make agrifood trade with our biggest market easier, cutting costs and reducing red tape for British businesses, while enabling quicker, smoother trade. The Government is committed to transparent engagement with industry and will review what information can be appropriately shared with stakeholders throughout this transition.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 31 May 2026 on Preparing for a future Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement with the European Union: Business readiness information, what assessment her Department has made of the proportion of affected businesses that are currently prepared for the implementation of the proposed arrangements.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government invited views from businesses and stakeholders on the UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement through a Call for Information, to understand awareness of the agreement and how it may affect them. The Government is analysing responses and will publish the full findings in summer 2026.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the total cost to businesses of complying with any new certification, labelling, IT system, and regulatory requirements arising from a future UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The precise impacts of the agreement will depend on the outcome of the negotiations. As technical negotiations progress, this Government expects to follow normal processes for any necessary legislative changes and assess impacts accordingly. Defra officials have been listening to businesses to understand how the agreement will affect them and will work with them to ensure a smooth transition.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many businesses in each sector are included within the Government's estimate that up to 500,000 businesses may be affected by a future UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement agreement affects in some way:
These figures are based on data from the Food Statistics Pocketbook (2024) and official census and labour market statistics.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the number of small and medium-sized enterprises that may need to make changes to production processes, certification, labelling, IT systems or compliance arrangements as a result of a future UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The precise impacts of the agreement will depend on the outcome of the negotiations. As technical negotiations progress, this Government expects to follow normal processes for any necessary legislative changes and assess impacts accordingly. This Government has been listening to businesses to understand how the agreement will affect them and will work with them to ensure a smooth transition.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of the Environment Agency requiring National Highways to apply for permits to operate outfalls into the River Lune.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) is able to use its enforcement policy and sanctions on those that pollute the environment. As the EA needs to prioritise its resource on tackling sources with the greatest environmental risk it is taking a collaborative approach in working with National Highways to mitigate the impact from their highest risk outfalls.