England

Farmers have been told to ignore flood warnings ‘at their peril’ as the UK gears up for another winter of extreme weather which could see a repeat of the devastating storms that ripped through rural communities last February.

The horticultural industry has established a grower-owned working group to provide support to a successor body to AHDB Horticulture to take over processing of EAMU applications and emergency authorisations.

The war in Ukraine has prompted a call for Ministers to give the new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme a bigger budget.

Initial payments under the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELM) cannot increase unless direct support is cut faster, Defra Secretary George Eustice has said.

Details about Defra’s long-awaited plans to support English farmers who want to retire have been set out by the department today (February 8).

Farm and environmental groups have warned the new payment rates for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), published this week, are too low and ‘lack ambition’.

The Labour Party has promised to give one Minister in every Government department responsibility for rural affairs.

The Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) has warned uptake of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) pilot may fall short of Defra’s target.

Defra will struggle to regain credibility if the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) due to be rolled out in 2022 fails, NFU vice president Tom Bradshaw has warned.

Defra Secretary George Eustice has set out further detail about what the Government’s 2022 Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) will look like.