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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support UK farmers to increase the production of wheat, barley, oats, and other cereals.

Our fantastic British farmers are world-leaders and carefully plan their planting to suit the weather, their soil type, and their long-term agronomic strategy.

It is not Government policy to determine which crops farmers should prioritise to include in their crop rotation, but we will continue to support farmers, so they can make the right decisions for them and the productivity of their land.

At the NFU conference, the Government announced a range of measures to boost productivity and resilience in the farming sector, including the largest ever grant offer for farmers in the coming financial year, expected to total £427 million. This includes doubling investment in productivity schemes, bolstering schemes such as the Improving Farming Productivity grant, the Water Management grant, the adding Value grant. Lastly the Farming Equipment and Technology fund can fund productivity items from a specified list of equipment, including eligible drills, fertiliser applicators, and grain dryers, which is due to open in the coming weeks.

Defra’s Genetic Improvement Networks (GINs) on Wheat, Oilseed Rape and Pulses crops aim to improve the main UK crops by identifying genetic traits to improve their productivity, sustainability and resilience. Across the GINs we have already successfully identified genetic traits that have improved resilience to climate change and common pests and diseases, and we are working with breeders to incorporate these traits into elite UK crop varieties.