After the government hinted at a review, a significant revision to farm subsidies that reward English landowners for their environmental efforts is now in doubt.
Environmental organizations and some farmers are concerned that the government may weaken the environmental land management systems (ELMS) revamp, while the NFU farm union has asked for a delay.
The ELMS is intended to replace the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU (CAP).
A government representative acknowledged that it was “rapidly examining” its strategies.
Following Brexit and in place of the CAP payments from the EU, ELMS represented the most significant change to English farm policy in 40 years.
The majority of those handouts, which were worth roughly £3.5 billion annually and were given depending on the amount of land that each farmer held individually, drew criticism for favoring certain farmers over others.
After several landowners and farmers requested that discussions with the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs regarding the program be postponed, the new ELMS subsidy framework was questioned.
Upon hearing about the review, Hilary McGrady, director-general of the National Trust, made an unusually strong remark.
This government, she said, “appears to be moving in the wrong way rather than stepping up measures to assist our environment.
Martin Lines, a farmer in Cambridgeshire and the chairman of the Nature-Friendly Farming Network, a group that advocates for sustainable farming, claimed that any delay to the ELMS program would prevent farmers from receiving vital assistance in order to adapt to a changing environment.
The sustainable farming incentive, regional nature recovery, and landscape recovery are the three payment programmes that make up ELMS.
According to the scheme, farmers might receive subsidies depending on a variety of environmental activities, from enhancing the health of the water and soil to rewilding entire landscapes.
Smaller farmers, meanwhile, had expressed concern that the new eco-friendly approach would not provide them with enough to stay in business.
Minette Batters, president of the NFU, stated that her group has requested a postponement of the plans’ implementation.
We requested a delay, she continued, “not because we wanted to maintain the status quo but rather because we think the SFI requires more clarity and to be profitable.”
Mahnur is MS(development Studies)Student at NUST University, completed BS Hons in Eng Literature. Content Writer, Policy analyst, Climate Change specialist, Teacher, HR Recruiter.
