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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to allow payments for farmers to grow home grown (a) pulses and (b) legumes as protein sources as SFI.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) pays farmers and land managers to carry out actions that support the sustainable production of food and boost farm productivity and resilience, while protecting and enhancing the environment. Within SFI there are existing actions which can support pulses and legumes. On improved grassland there is an action to add legumes to the grass. On arable land there is a companion cropping action to grow two or more crops together which can include pulses or legumes as a companion.