England is over halfway through the transition from EU farm subsidies to new schemes focused on sustainable farming and public goods. While participation in the new schemes is rapidly growing, there are concerns that these schemes lack opportunities for farmers on more marginal land and cannot meet legally binding climate, nature, and water quality targets. On top of pressure from climate change and unfair supply chain practices, the lack of policy and budgetary certainty is making long-term business planning difficult.
In this report, we detail our findings from visiting six farms across England, each actively navigating the agricultural transition. The farms selected were diverse in nature, varying from upland livestock to lowland arable, and covering a range of sizes and tenancy types. Informed by our visits, we propose nine recommendations for how the government can evolve its agricultural policy to support farmers in realising the opportunities in the transition.
