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 encourage the expansion of domestic manufacturing of (a) tractors, (b) combine harvesters and (c) precision agriculture technology.

Domestic adoption of precision farming technologies including, for example, tractor mounted drills, inter row hoes and weeders and camera guided spot sprayers, has been supported by the Farming Equipment & Technology Fund (FETF), that provides grants towards the cost of innovative equipment that is commercially available. A round of FETF will open to farmers across England in Spring 2025.

Through the Accelerating Development of Practices and Technologies (ADOPT) fund we are also providing grants for farmer-led demonstration trials of newly emerging technologies, so farmers may have greater confidence to invest in further advances to improve productivity and profitability.

A range of measures is being considered through the development of the Government’s Industrial Strategy to benefit UK technology and equipment manufacturers and deliver growth.