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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Welsh Government's Sustainable Farming Scheme, including the scheme’s requirement to devote at least 10 per cent of agricultural land to tree cover and to manage at least 10 per cent as semi-natural habitat, with the result that 20 per cent of agricultural land could be taken out of production; and what plans they have to introduce any such scheme in England.

Agriculture is a devolved area, and Wales’s Sustainable Farming Scheme is therefore a matter for the Welsh Government.

Defra and devolved administration officials meet routinely to share experiences and insight regarding our respective agricultural policies.