Green farming budget freeze 'will hit nature work'

Environmental groups have warned that work to boost biodiversity across the UK countryside will be put at risk by the government’s decision to freeze the level of payments to farms in England.

Farmers - already angry at changes to inheritance tax rules announced in the Budget - have been told payments from the public purse will be frozen next year.

The Wildlife Trusts say the decision leaves a "monumental gap" between current environmental land management scheme (Elms) funding and what is needed to help farmers protect and boost wildlife and its habitats, while still producing food.

The government said it would maintain the £2.4bn current level of farm payments in England for 2025/26, and that its commitment to farming was "steadfast".

One farmer told the BBC he no longer believed the government understood the pressures of producing the nation’s food and protecting the countryside.

James Grindal, a mixed arable and livestock farmer in Leicestershire, said: “I wouldn’t think the government has any idea.

"I think they ought to come and see the reality - the coalface of putting food on people’s plates."

In Wednesday's Budget, the Chancellor announced that, while there would continue to be no inheritance tax due on combined business and agricultural assets worth less than £1m, above that there would be a 50% relief, at an effective rate of 20%, from April 2026.

While some maintain the new policy is designed in part to cover large-scale landowners who may have invested in farmland for the tax benefit, many in farming say the £1m limit will hit small family farms hardest.

Mr Grindal, who has two sons, aged 17 and 19, said he could be hit twice by the changes – on handing down the family farm, and if landowners sell off the land he rents.

"I explained to my youngest son, who asked what the implications were, that if you take 20% off something every time someone dies, it’s not long before you get to nought," he said.

“The Chancellor said she wants to protect small farms, but she is protecting the person who made a lot of money somewhere, bought a nice house with 20, 30, 50 acres to have a few horses on."

Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Tim Farron said of the changes to agricultural property inheritance tax relief: "This is a family farm tax which risks ringing the death knell for local farmers and the small businesses who rely on them."

Conservationists and environmental groups have spoken out on the government’s plans to maintain the farming payments budget at its current annual level of £2.4bn, the majority of which goes on environmental land management schemes.

The Wildlife Trusts said around £3.1bn was needed for environmental farming schemes in England, and that maintaining the budget at current levels was a real-terms cut.

Elliot Chapman-Jones, the Trusts’ head of public affairs, said: “Ultimately, there is a monumental gap between current funding and what is needed to reverse wildlife declines, clean up rivers and significantly reduce the use of chemicals on farms."

Tom Lancaster, land, food and farming analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit think tank, said all the budget did was "maintain the status quo, just about keeping the show on the road for now".

The Country Land and Business Association's (CLA) president Victoria Vyvyan said the decision to freeze the budget at the same level would hit hard-pressed farmers.

She added: "It could hit sustainable food production and undermine improvements to wildlife habitats, flood management and access to nature."

The government said the £2.4bn farming budget for England in 2025/26 would still be the “largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery”.

Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs Daniel Zeichner said: “Our commitment to farmers and the vital role they play to feed our nation remains steadfast.

“That is why this government will commit to the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history, enabling us to keep momentum on the path to a more resilient and sustainable farming sector.”