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UK Boosts Payments to Farmers for Nature Recovery Efforts
The UK’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) is increasing payments to farmers who actively participate in nature recovery efforts. This move, announced around June 2025, aims to accelerate progress towards the UK’s environmental goals, including tackling climate change, boosting biodiversity, and improving water quality.
Why the Increase?
The increased payments are part of the UK government’s broader strategy to transition away from the old EU-era Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and towards a new system that rewards farmers for delivering “public goods.” “Public goods” are benefits that everyone enjoys but that are not typically provided by the market, such as clean air, clean water, thriving wildlife, and carbon sequestration.
The previous CAP system primarily focused on direct payments based on the amount of land farmed, which critics argued incentivized intensive farming practices that were detrimental to the environment. The UK government is now shifting to a system where farmers are paid for specific actions that benefit the environment. The increased payments reflect a recognition that these actions require investment and deserve fair compensation.
Key Schemes and Initiatives:
Defra is likely boosting payments across several key environmental schemes, possibly including these:
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Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS): ELMS is the umbrella term for the UK’s post-Brexit agricultural support system. ELMS is made up of 3 separate schemes.
- Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI): Focuses on supporting farmers to adopt sustainable farming practices that improve soil health, water quality, and biodiversity. Examples include cover cropping, no-till farming, and integrated pest management.
- Countryside Stewardship (CS): Offers agreements for more complex or longer-term environmental management, such as creating wildlife habitats, restoring hedgerows, and managing woodlands.
- Landscape Recovery: Supports larger-scale projects focused on restoring entire ecosystems, such as peatlands, wetlands, and forests.
What Actions Will Farmers Be Paid For?
The specific actions that farmers can get paid for will vary depending on the scheme and location, but generally include:
- Creating and restoring habitats: This includes planting wildflowers, restoring hedgerows, creating ponds and wetlands, and managing woodlands to benefit wildlife.
- Improving soil health: Practices like cover cropping, no-till farming, and using organic matter can improve soil structure, fertility, and water retention.
- Reducing pollution: This includes reducing the use of fertilizers and pesticides, managing manure properly, and preventing soil erosion.
- Improving water quality: Protecting waterways from pollution and runoff, restoring riverbanks, and creating buffer strips along watercourses.
- Carbon sequestration: Planting trees, restoring peatlands, and using soil management practices that increase carbon storage.
Impact and Implications:
- Increased Biodiversity: By creating and restoring habitats, the schemes can help to boost populations of birds, insects, and other wildlife.
- Improved Water Quality: Reducing pollution from agriculture can improve the quality of rivers, lakes, and groundwater.
- Climate Change Mitigation: Practices like tree planting and soil carbon sequestration can help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change.
- More Sustainable Farming: The schemes can encourage farmers to adopt more sustainable practices that are better for the environment and for the long-term health of their land.
Challenges and Considerations:
- Bureaucracy: There have been some concerns raised about the complexity of applying for the schemes and the administrative burden on farmers.
- Long-Term Commitment: Nature recovery is a long-term process, and it will be important to ensure that farmers are supported and incentivized to maintain their efforts over time.
- Balancing Food Production and Environmental Goals: There is a need to strike a balance between supporting nature recovery and ensuring that farmers can continue to produce food.
- Monitoring and Evaluation: It will be important to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the schemes to ensure that they are achieving their intended outcomes.
Conclusion:
The UK’s decision to increase payments to farmers for nature recovery efforts is a significant step towards creating a more sustainable and environmentally friendly agricultural system. By rewarding farmers for delivering public goods, the government hopes to incentivize widespread adoption of practices that benefit both the environment and the wider community. While challenges remain, the increased payments represent a positive move towards a future where farming and nature can thrive together.
イギリス環境・食糧・農村地域省、自然回復に取り組む農家への給付金アップへ
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At 2025-06-16 01:00, ‘イギリス環境・食糧・農村地域省、自然回復に取り組む農家への給付金アップへ’ was published according to 環境イノベーション情報機構. Please write a detailed article with related information in an easy-to-understand manner. Please answer in English.
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