Select committee: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Conclusion 14
First Report - Soil health
Published 5 Dec 2023
Paragraph 59
Addressed to Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Soil Health All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We are pleased to see soils being targeted specifically as part of the new Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes. While these measures are a good start, the measures in the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) are basic and lack essential actions that are known to protect and enhance soils. The role of the Countryside Stewardship (CS) and Landscape Recovery (LR) schemes in improving soil health also needs to be clearer. Low initial ambition is understandable while the Government is focusing on increasing farmer engagement with ELMs, improving its evidence base and establishing soil health baselines. In the long run, as ‘sustainable soil management’ is defined, the Government needs to strike a better balance 50 Soil health between giving farmers the flexibility to make choices that are right for their farm, incentivising the most sustainable combinations of actions, and getting more land into ELM schemes, in order to achieve positive soil health outcomes.
From: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, First Report - Soil health (HC 245), paragraph 59, 5 December 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 21 March 2024 (deadline 5 February 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government says it welcomes the Committee's recommendations and is "carefully considering them alongside our existing initiatives", while setting out its own timings and positions on individual recommendations.
- On soil data, national soil monitoring is under way within the tNCEA programme, with the soil health baseline due "by 2028, subject to further capital funding". Defra will publish a progress report on the soil health indicator by June 2024.
- On statutory soil targets, the government sees target-setting as "an iterative process" and will "keep our targets framework under review". The next Environmental Improvement Plan review is due in 2028.
- On annual reporting for ELM schemes, it is reviewing how best to meet its Agriculture Act 2020 reporting commitment and says it is "unlikely" that it can report annually on soil health impacts.
- On soil remediation and reuse, it intends to pilot a Soil Reuse and Depot scheme by December 2026 and expects revised construction guidance by summer 2024. It will assess voluntary approaches "before considering any regulatory models, or the need for a specific taskforce".