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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help incentivise farmers to take part in (a) rewilding schemes, (b) soil health restoration and (c) improving biodiversity.

This Government is incentivising farmers to take part in rewilding schemes, soil health restoration and improving biodiversity through Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) pays farmers to carry out actions that can help with the long-term productivity and resilience of the soil to benefit food production. These actions can also provide environmental benefits, such as increased biodiversity.

Countryside Stewardship (CS) provides financial incentives for farmers, foresters and land managers to look after and improve the environment. CS Mid-Tier is primarily focused on improving habitats and biodiversity; the mid-tier offer has now been merged with SFI for new entrants to schemes from 2024, but existing Mid-Tier agreements are not affected by this merge. CS Higher Tier supports farmers to deliver objectives including protection and enhancement of the natural environment, increase of biodiversity, and improvement of habitats.

Landscape Recovery supports farmers and land managers who want to take a large-scale, long-term approach to nurture wilder landscapes and wildlife-rich habitat. It supports objectives such as restoring ecological or hydrological function across a landscape, peatland restoration, woodland management, or habitat restoration.