Recommendation 32

The Environmental Land Management schemes offer an opportunity that must not be missed to achieve the three pillars of adapting our food system to environmental change, mitigating the environmental harms caused by our food system, and slowing climate change and biodiversity decline in general. We do not think the Government should take for granted that food security is a public good, particularly given that farmers have encountered more extreme weather and rising costs since ELMs were first initiated. Any decline in food security has profound implications across society. The Government should designate food security as a public good and incorporate food security and environmental goals more explicitly in the design of the Environmental Land Management schemes.