The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has called for the UK government to “back agriculture” with a £4 billion a year budget.
The CLA said farmers in England need an increased government budget if they are to deliver meaningful improvements to the environment.
The current government is committed to spending an average of £2.4 billion every year on the farming budget in England across this Parliament, and has spent less than that in each of the last two years, the CLA said.
At the 2023 CLA rural business conference in London today (Thursday, November 30), CLA president Victoria Vyvyan said all farmers need confidence in the government.
She said farmers want to be sure that the government will back their ambitions for the environment, nature and food production over the long-term, in the face of rising costs and inflationary pressures.
Vyvyan said that the government needs to spend at least £2.7 billion this year to hit its own target, and that those in power need to go further.
Environment Secretary for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Steve Barclay are in attendance, as well as shadow Defra secretary Steve Reed.
Opening conference at the QEII Centre, Vyvyan told delegates: “There’s concern and confusion but there’s also excitement in the farming sector. Things are changing and for the next generation that means opportunity.
“We need an undertaking that Defra ministers will go in to bat for an agriculture budget north of £4 billion a year in England for the next parliament.
“With this guarantee, businesses young and old can go to the bank with proof of affordability to finance growth, improve margins and confirm a future.”
Rural businesses
Vyvyan said the CLA has been working “robustly but collaboratively” with Defra to help improve its funding schemes and she encouraged farmers to apply for support like the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and the Funding in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) programme.
The CLA president said rural businesses are being held back by a planning system not fit-for-purpose.
“Planning is not working at all and is a serious hinderance to the roll out of rural prosperity,” she said.
“If we are going to grow the rural economy of the future, we need to engage with secondary education and help businesses to bring on the next generation.”
