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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason the Sustainable Farming Incentive's Organic Farming Standard has been delayed until 2025.

There has been no delay. We recognise the benefits that organic farming can offer to the wider environment and in December 2021 confirmed that an Organic Standard is currently being considered as part of the development of the Sustainable Farming Incentive, with an indicative roll out date of 2025. We will only release standards into the live service when we are confident in their design and our ability to successfully deliver the service. We are currently working to develop and refine this new standard.

Until then, organic farmers will be able to take part in the early rollout of the Sustainable Farming Incentive and are likely to be well placed to adopt the higher levels of ambition in the soils standards as well as other standards in development such as Integrated Pest Management, due to the specific farming practices they undertake. Organic producers can also join the Countryside Stewardship (CS) scheme in addition to a Sustainable Farming Incentive agreement. This is subject to the normal rules around not being paid for the same action twice, and not being paid to undertake incompatible actions on the same parcel of land. The organic offer in CS was designed in consultation with organic stakeholders and is open to farmers and land managers with fully organic or in-conversion land.