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 help farmers adopt soil management practices that enhance moisture retention during hot and dry conditions.

Healthy soils have improved resilience to extreme weather, and soil moisture is an important factor in soil health. Our Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes include actions that support healthy soil. This includes payments for actions to improve soil health, including herbal leys and multi-species cover crops.

In the October 2024 budget, we committed £5 billion for farming over two years, including £1.8 billion for our ELM schemes - the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history. We now have more than half of farmers in an ELM scheme, enabling us to boost Britain’s food security while accelerating the transition to a more resilient and sustainable farming sector.