Thursday 12 November 2020

Landmark Agriculture Bill to boost green farming passed into UK law

Landmark Agriculture Bill to boost green farming passed into UK law

The government's landmark Agriculture Bill that aims to boost green farming has been passed into law.

The Agriculture Bill sets out how farmers and land managers in England will be rewarded to invest in green technologies, stay competitive and produce high-quality food in a more sustainable way.

A new Environmental Land Management scheme will replace the Basic Payment scheme subsidy system, which pays farmers for the total amount of land farmed.

Beginning next year, farmers will have a seven-year transition period to adapt to a new agricultural system.

The incentives, the details of which will be announced later this month, are expected to reinforce the government's efforts to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) says the new Bill will improve transparency in supply chains as the government will report on UK food security to Parliament every three years.

The first report, which is expected to be published at the end of next year will include analysis of the impacts on the food supply of the coronavirus pandemic.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said: "Our landmark Agriculture Act will transform the way we support farmers.

"The funds released as a result of the phasing out of the legacy Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) will be re-invested into a roll-out of our future farming policy, which will be centred around support aimed at incentivising sustainable farming practices, creating habitats for nature recovery and supporting the establishment of new woodland and other ecosystem services to help tackle challenges like climate change."

Written by

Bruna Pinhoni

Trending Articles