Recommendation 7

The Government has been clear that the success of ELM is critical to meeting its environmental ambitions, but this will require huge uptake of the scheme and the funding to ensure that. If farmers are to enter into multi-year agreements to deliver public goods, they deserve a clear guarantee that the Government is committed to the sustained, long-term funding of this transition. Defra should commit, as a minimum, to retaining the current agriculture budget until at least 2029 as recommended in the independent National Food Strategy.