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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made on the future of all three elements of the Environment Land Management Scheme (ELMS) including (a) sustainable farming incentive (SFI), (b) local nature recovery (LNR) and (c) landscape recovery (LR).

As set out in the Growth Plan, we are looking at the frameworks for regulation, innovation and investment that impact farmers and land managers, to make sure that our policies are best placed to both boost food production and protect the environment. This includes looking at how best to deliver the Environmental Land Management schemes to see where and how improvements can be made, and we will continue to work closely with the sector to ensure these are designed and delivered in their best interests.

Claims we intend to go back on our commitment to the environment are simply not right. We’re not scrapping the schemes. In light of the pressures farmers are facing as a result of the current global economic situation, including spikes in input costs, it’s only right that we look at how best to deliver the schemes to see where and how improvements can be made.

Boosting food production and strengthening resilience and sustainability come alongside, not instead of, protecting and enhancing our natural environment, and later this year we will set out more details of plans on how we will increase food security while strengthening the resilience and role of farmers as stewards of the British countryside.

More information can be found at: Government reiterates commitment to environmental protections - Defra in the media (blog.gov.uk)