Agriculture

Chair: Barnaby Coupe, The Wildlife Trusts
Vice Chair: Alice Groom, RSPB
Link: Hannah Blitzer, Senior Policy Officer

Update from the group:

Link continues to call for ambitious farm payments under the Government’s flagship ‘Environmental Land Management’ (ELM) policy such as its contribution to net zero, or a minimum threshold of 10% of farmland managed for nature.

Currently, eligible farmers and land managers can sign up to the ELM schemes. However, outstanding concerns remain over the delivery of ELM. Defra recently announced changes to ELM under its recent Agricultural Transition Plan Update. You can find Link’s original key recommendations for the ELM here.

Furthermore, while Defra has begun to assess the agricultural regulatory and enforcement system, this presently only centres around nutrient management, slurry and hedgerows and does not address the broader recommendations made by Dame Glenys Stacey in 2018, which are still urgently needed to underpin investment of public money at value for money for the taxpayer. There are also outstanding concerns around the end to cross compliance from 1 January 2024. You can read a blog detailing these issues here. Link has responded to Defra's consultation on hedgerows and is working with members to outline a vision for an ambitious regulatory baseline as a precondition for ELM  success. In 2024, Link is leading a working group on regulations relating to permitting and intensive livestock farms. 

The Agriculture Group works in coalition with other groups on agricultural peatland, climate change and the farming sector, and building the consensus on food, farming and nature. It also continues to support other Link working groups to protect natural habitats and wildlife species through nature-friendly and agroecological farming practices. 

For further information, contact Hannah Blitzer, Link’s Senior Policy Officer on Agriculture.

Last updated: April 2024