Defra receives 44,000 responses on future of UK farming

The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has received more than 44,000 comments on the future of food and farming, submitted in response to the government’s ‘Health and Harmony’ consultation.

The consultation focused on the impact of Brexit on the future farming industry, including the improvement of land management systems, and redirection of payments under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) scheme. Currently, CAP payments are based on the amount of land farmed, but proposals have been put forward under the consultation for a system that pays farmers public funds for the development of standards in the public interest, such as the tackling of environmental damage, and supporting of high animal welfare standards.

The consultation lasted ten weeks and Defra held 17 events across the UK, along with the National Trust, National Farmers’ Union, and the Eden Project, to hear responses from more than 1,250 food and farming industry representatives.

Responses were submitted by farmers, food producers and environmental campaigners, who covered a range of issues, such as government subsidisation of the farming industry, and a broad policy direction for farming post-Brexit. The proposals were criticised recently by the Soil Association’s policy director Peter Melchett who said the ‘consultation has, frankly, bugger all to say about human health’.

Food and farming advocacy group Sustain submitted its response to Defra, writing that it hopes to ‘see [the] government securing and committing sufficient budget to achieve ambitions’.

In the report, sustainable farming coordinator Vicki Hird said: “Not only do we need a minimum to cover the basic responsibilities of nature conservation and protection, but the budget needs to cover wider outcomes, such as capital grants, rural resilience programmes, measures to support public health, business support, advice, and expanding high delivery systems such as organic.

“Crucially for the Treasury, the costs savings could be far higher than expenditure made as highlighted in the Sustainable Food Trust’s Hidden Costs of Food report.”

After the consultation formally ended on 8 May, environment secretary Michael Gove said: “It’s great news that so many people have responded so enthusiastically to our consultation. Leaving the European Union gives us the opportunity to improve the support we give to Britain’s farmers. We can make farming more productive, improve the quality of the food we eat and enhance our natural environment.

“We’ll reflect on the many thoughtful ideas put forward in response to our consultation and bring forward our plans for legislation later this year.”