Government warned of ‘massive own goal’ if it fails to deliver on farming budget

It would be a “massive own goal” for the Government to fail to match its ambition on green goals and food security with the funding needed to deliver them, it has been warned.

National Farmers’ Union president Tom Bradshaw marked Back British Farming Day with a call for an increased annual agriculture budget to the tune of £5.6 billion UK-wide, with £4 billion in England.

He said a budget of that order is essential to give farmers the confidence to invest in the future, produce sustainable and affordable food and deliver for nature, energy security and climate-friendly farming.

And Mr Bradshaw warned that the biggest risk with trying to deliver on all those fronts with a squeezed budget was that it would “fail on everything”.

At a reception in Parliament to mark Back British Farming Day, Environment Secretary Steve Reed insisted the new Labour Government was on the sector’s side in dealing with challenges including climate extremes, disease, supply chains, access to labour and rising costs.

He said the agricultural budget would be decided as part of the wider Government spending review.

Mr Reed added: “But I’m making the case to Treasury to maximise support for farmers.

“I will fight your corner in the process.”

But ministers have also warned of the dire state of the UK’s finances, setting up a clash with countryside organisations over agricultural funding, as wildlife groups line up with farmers to call for an increase in the budget for nature-friendly farming and delivering goals to tackle the nature and climate crises.

And there have been reports that underspend in the agricultural budget, which it has emerged was £130 million in 2023/24, could be returned to the Treasury as it attempts to fill a £22 billion “black hole” in the nation’s finances.

In a letter to the Telegraph, former Conservative environment secretaries and ministers including Michael Gove and Therese Coffey have urged the Government to keep the farming budget intact or increase it in line with inflation.

They say the reported £100 million cut to the budget has been estimated to reduce the amount of farmland under new nature-friendly farming and land management schemes by 239,000 hectares “at a time when food security and our natural environment have never been more important”.

The NFU says independent work it has commissioned from the Andersons Centre suggests an annual budget of £4 billion is needed for England.

That includes £2.7 billion to meet the Government’s environmental goals, as well as £615 million for driving productivity and £720 million to support the economic stability of agricultural businesses.

The NFU estimates that would translate to a UK-wide budget of around £5.6 billion.

Under the previous government, there was a £2.4 billion annual agriculture budget for England, which was being shifted from EU-era subsidies mostly for land farmed, to environmental land management scheme (Elms) payments for public goods such as healthy soil and water and habitat creation.

In its manifesto, Labour pledged to take action to meet the legal targets in the Environment Act, which include halting declines in species populations by 2030, boosting water quality and increasing tree cover.

Speaking to journalists at the parliamentary event on Wednesday, Mr Bradshaw said: “The legislated environmental targets are something that we are crucial for delivering, the farming industry has to be the key stakeholder in delivering those ambitions.

“It can only be done with the correct level of funding, the correct level of investment.

“I think it would be a massive own goal for a government that does not match the ambition of these legislated targets with the budget required to deliver them and deliver for food security.”

He said the Budget planned for October 30 would be where “we see the colour of the money, and are they going to back the industry or not”.

Mr Bradshaw added that environmental charities were as concerned about the Government’s plans as the farming industry was, knowing “they cannot deliver those targets if we don’t have an adequate budget”.

And he said the biggest risk of a squeezed budget was failing to deliver on everything.

Mr Bradshaw said: “You take cuts on everything and you fail to do anything properly.

“That’s the big concern with this, is that you don’t prioritise and you say, well we’re going to do it all with less budget.

“That’s just going to fail on everything.”