Defra have consulted on the future of policy for farming and the environment in England once we leave the European Union. See the full Defra consultation document. This consultation provides a once in a generation opportunity to inform the shape of future policy.
The Environment Agency welcomes the ambition set out in this consultation paper and the opportunities which come with a new approach to our food and farming sector.
To seek the right change for the agriculture sector and the environment, the Environment Agency would like to outline 8 key priorities towards ensuring a more sustainable future:
- protection of environmental standards in future trade agreements
- clear environmental baseline standards ingrained in regulation
- public funding to farmers should be conditional on ensuring these baseline regulatory conditions are met
- public funding should be for ‘public goods’
- a new approach to calculating farm payments for environmental delivery which represents the value the public receives
- larger scale and longer term thinking in delivering environmental schemes
- broadening of the funding base to increase the longer term security of environmental land management measures
- an agri-food supply chain which takes greater ownership for ensuring that environmental standards are achieved
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