“The farming industry has already embarked on a long journey of protecting, maintaining and enhancing our iconic British countryside, carrying out huge amounts of work to enhance landscapes, benefit soils, water, and air quality, encourage wildlife, and reduce impact on the climate.
“Government, through this Environment Bill, needs to make certain that food production and land management policies go hand-in-hand; where measures for protecting and enhancing the environment are joined up with policies that support farming’s ability to improve productivity and to manage volatility to ensure we have profitable, productive and progressive farm businesses, both now and in the future.
“With a no-deal Brexit still an immediate threat to British farming, we also need assurances from government that the UK’s high welfare and environmental standards will not be undermined by any post-Brexit trade policy. We must not see food being imported into the UK that would be illegal to produce here.”
Farming and the environment statistics:
- 10,000 ha football pitches of wildflower habitat have been planted, creating homes for bees and food for insects
- Over 35,000 ha are under positive management conserving field trees, grasslands, woodlands and orchards
- 47,000 ha of buffer strips protect watercourses and features.
Farming is the bedrock of the UK’s largest manufacturing sector, food and drink, which contributes more than £120 billion to the country’s economy and supports jobs for four million people.