Farmers: Government Assistance

(asked on 4th June 2021) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support family farmers in the UK.


Answered by
Victoria Prentis Portrait
Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
This question was answered on 14th June 2021

Through our reforms to English agricultural policy we will move away from area-based subsidy. This means that farmers will receive money based on the outcomes they provide, not just on the amount of land they own and manage. Family farms of all sizes will therefore have opportunities to enhance their business and the natural environment.

We are starting these changes this year. We are making increasing amounts of funding available to farmers so that they have the opportunities to apply for Countryside Stewardship scheme agreements, extending existing Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship agreements, introducing our Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot, and helping farmers to invest in equipment, technology and infrastructure to improve their productivity and business prosperity. Over time we will make more funding available for farmers to undertake environmental land management.

To support these changes and to give farmers the best chance of benefiting from our reforms we will be providing support to build resilience during the early years of the transition. This support will help farmers by providing the information and tools required to plan with confidence on the best way forward for their business.

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