Select committee: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Recommendation 36
First Report - Soil health
Published 5 Dec 2023
Paragraph 120
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 ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The review should also identify where guidance documents for sustainable farming— including sustainable soil management—could be better synthesised and made more specific to particular settings. Working closely with respected organisations such as the AHDB, the Government should invest in research projects to develop guidance and decision-making support tools for the delivery of future ELM objectives, ones that encourage a “whole farm” approach. ELM schemes should also subsidise collaborations between farmers and academics as well as events that facilitate knowledge exchange in the agricultural sector.
From: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, First Report - Soil health (HC 245), paragraph 120, 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".