The Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) has said that the government’s new plans for land management is “long on aspiration and short on the level of granularity” that many farmers will need for multifunctional land use.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announced England’s first ever Land Use Framework this week, which will guide how land across the country should be managed for food production, housing, climate action, and nature restoration.
While the framework sets out objectives for these competing interests, TFA chief executive George Dunn believes that the document is “relatively light on how that juggling act is going to be sustained in practice.”
The TFA raised concerns over the fact that agricultural land is the only land being sacrificed to go towards climate and nature efforts, with the area of land used for housing expected to increase “with little or no apparent contribution to environmental outcomes.”
Tenant farmers
Dunn also highlighted that the framework “underestimates the contribution that more marginal land brings to the structure of the agricultural industry, particularly for livestock” and sustainable farming.
He noted: “Our upland areas, protected sites and grasslands are vital both to the farming industry and to the delivery of vital climate and nature objectives.”
These areas of less favoured land are commonly managed by tenant farmers, who featured prominently within the framework.
“The framework rightly stresses that we must break down the barriers that tenant farmers often face in diversifying their activities, even to focus on outcomes for nature alongside their traditional farming activities,” he said.
“It was also good to see that there is recognition of the need to up-rate the compensation provided to tenant farmers to recognise the disruption to their livelihoods when they lose land from their tenancies to give way to alternative uses.”
The TFA chief executive also outlined that the upcoming Law Commission’s review of legislation governing farm tenancies needs to be undertaken sooner than its current minimum timeframe of four years.
“The start of the review is still a year away and will then take at least three years to complete.
“The TFA urges the government to work with the Law Commission to bring its review forward and to deliver it within a shorter timeframe,” Dunn added.
NFU
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has also responded to the announcement of the Land Use Framework this week.
NFU president Tom Bradshaw noted that the framework’s commitment to national food security is particularly “vital as the global geopolitical situation continues to become more uncertain with the war in the Middle East and ongoing war in Ukraine.”
Bradshaw acknowledged that these new plans are a “step in the right direction”; however he admitted that “challenges remain about delivering against the ambitious objectives” that Defra has set out.
He said: “Delivering on all objectives with existing land is an ambitious aim and will require clear guidance, the right policy framework and incentives, to avoid unintended outcomes and ensure that all farmers and growers are able to meet the ambitious productivity objectives within the framework.
“We will work through the detail of the framework and will continue to engage with Defra with further feedback from farmers and growers.”
