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 support farmers with rising input costs.

The Government is supporting farmers through a range of measures. We are updating prices in our environmental land management schemes with an average 10% uplift. We are making Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) simpler, with more choice about what farmers can do and more actions made available, to better reflect the full spectrum of farming interests. What is more, 50 new actions are being added to our environmental land management schemes, many of which support food production, making it easier for the Government’s support to fit into farmers’ business plans. And specific actions in the SFI, such as different cropping systems, better plant management methods and other Nutrient Management and Integrated Pest Management actions, will support farmers in improving soil health, reducing their reliance on costly inputs.

We are also keen to support farmers through technology. Later this month, Defra will be inviting farmers to apply for share of an initial £15 million for innovations, like robotic mechanical weeding technology, that can be implemented right away. More grants will be launched this year to help farmers grow more, sell more and make their businesses more sustainable and resilient for the future. We will also look at ways to make grants and schemes even easier to access, including the potential to streamline the application process for schemes. Farmers can now apply for SFI and the Countryside Stewardship Mid-Tier through one single application, meaning they’ll have the same actions and get the same support with less paperwork.

More broadly, we are supporting British farmers in the marketplace. British farmers are rightly proud of producing food that meets and often exceeds our world leading animal welfare and environmental standards. And British consumers want to buy this top-quality food. This is why we will rapidly consult on clearer labelling, to protect farmers and consumers. We also want the public sector to procure more high quality, sustainable food produced by farmers, and Parliament has in fact recently passed legislation following our exit from the European Union which enables a greater emphasis on the public benefits of this public sector procurement. We will also update the government buying standards for food and catering to emphasise the importance of buying food with high environmental and welfare standards, which will further support British farmers and food producers.