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Policy plays a critical role in shaping the agriculture industry in the UK and Europe. Government policies can have a major impact on the way that farmers operate, the crops they grow, and the prices they receive for their products. Policy has a major effect on how land is managed and environmental outcomes.

The EU's Common Agriculture Policy has had a profound impact on agriculture and land use across Europe in recent decades. Since Brexit in the UK the Agriculture Bill sets out a different approach for farmers in England, with promised measures to support sustainable farming practices, support for new technologies and innovations, funding for R&D to support new farming practices and programmes to help farmers adapt to climate change and transition.

The EU is developing a Farm to Fork strategy as part of its Green Deal with the aim of making the EU food system more sustainable and healthy. It aims to:

  • reduce the use of pesticides and chemicals in agriculture
  • promote sustainable farming practices like agroecology and organic farming,
  • support development of regional food systems and short supply chains
  • encourage the consumption of healthy and sustainable diets, including more plant-based foods
  • Reduce food waste and promoting the use of food waste as a source of energy and fertilizer

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Related Organisations

Content below is from across the PEP community and is not necessarily endorsed by Stewards or by PEP

Connected Content

Science for Sustainable Agriculture

Science for Sustainable Agriculture aims to ensure the positive contribution of scientific innovation in agriculture and food production is recognised in public life and policy making.

Net Zero

In 2015, the UK pledged to be Net Zero by 2050, with the NFU striving for the more ambitious target of 2040. Net Zero is achieved when the amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted is balanced with those removed from the atmosphere. This helps to combat climate change and reduce global warming.

YEN Zero Discussion Workshop

In our first workshop of the season and as part of the Countryside COP programme we met to introduce YEN Zero and discuss productivity and land use as it relates to crops and GHG emissions, addressing the questions: What is the role of productivity in reaching net zero agriculture? How do we balance meeting food demand while protecting our environment? Should we be ‘sparing’ land for nature or ‘sharing’ our agricultural land with nature?

Knowledge

Farm-PEP aims to bring together all the sources of useful knowledge for Agriculture, whether from academic science, applied research projects, industry trials, farmers own trials or simple on-farm experience. Listed below are useful websites, organisations and websites that we know of.  Add any we've missed in the comments box or by adding as new content, or better still, as a new Group.  

DEFRA

The Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs.

NFU

The NFU represents more than 46,000 farming and growing businesses. Our purpose is to champion British agriculture and horticulture, to campaign for a stable and sustainable future for British farmers and to secure the best possible deal for our members. We strive to protect and promote British farm life and give our members a voice now and in the future.

Land Sparing & Land Sharing

Are environmental benefits (carbon, biodiversity...) best served by sharing agricultural land with nature, or by maximising yield in some areas to spare tracts of land exclusively for nature in other areas?  

Rewilding

Rewilding is an approach to restoring biodiversity and ecosystem health by working towards returning habitats back to their natural state. Rewilding is commonly misrepresented as the reintroduction of large and glamorous wild animals and the removal of people and human activity from the landscape, but this is very rarely the case.  

Oxford Real Farming Conference 2023

Bringing the real food and farming movement together. Every January the Oxford Real Farming Conference connects people in the UK and around the globe who want to transform our food and farming system

Landscape Recovery - the Governance and Funding challenge

The challenges of creating an enduring system for Lansdcape Recovery….  

Funding

Funding available for research and knowledge exchange in the UK comes from a mix of public, industry and charitable sources

RAU Royal Agricultural University

Thrive through change with the Royal Agricultural University

National Food Strategy

Henry Dimbleby's National Food Strategy, reported in July 2021

Oxford Farming Conference

The Oxford Farming Conference (OFC) is the leading international conference held in the UK for farming and agribusiness. It takes place in January every year located in the historic and inspiring surroundings of Oxford University. The OFC's mission is to inform, challenge and inspire the 560 or so delegates who attend, to resonate and be a force for positive change throughout the industry. The 2023 conference is taking place between 4th-6th January - see our event page for more details in the 'recommended content' section below.

Oxford Farming Conference 2023

OFC 2023 will explore systemic solutions to the cumulative biodiversity, climate, food and energy crises that collectively we are facing, with optimism and determination not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Automation in horticulture review

Independent Review for Defra led by Prof Simon Pearson: Executi

Sustainable agriculture and food systems - Chatham House Study

Report by Prof Tim Benton and Dr Helen Harwatt on sustainability in farming, regenerative agr

Knowledge Exchange

Knowledge Exchange in Agriculture in the UK is diverse, with many organisations involved. That is part of the reason for creating Farm-PEP, to help provide connections to what many percieve as a fragmented landscape.

UKAP - UK Agriculture Partnership

A new Defra forum which will bring together stakeholders to identify and improve collaborative working on shared issues facing the agricultural sector.

Farmer led innovation

Many of the most telling innovations that make a difference on-farm come from farmers themselves, or from close collaboration between farmers, advisors, industry and researchers

CEIA - Centre for Effective Innovation in Agriculture

Aiming to strengthen the impact and benefit of agricultural research at scale. Supported by the Elizabeth Creak Charitable Trust.

Future Farming Resilience Fund

Third round of Defra support for Free Business Support to support farmers through the transition period is now available to farmers in England.     

Food, Farming & Countryside Commission (FFCC)

We work to bring together unusual combinations of voices in order to devise a range of practical actions that can have significant impact on our climate, nature, health and economy. 

Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)

SFI offers payments to farmers to carry out farming activities in a more environmentally sustainable way so that they can produce environmental goods and services alongside food.

Application of Science to Realise the Potential of the Agricultural Transition

Report by Lord Curry (Food & Farming Futures), James Lowenburg-DeBoer and Michael Lee (Harper Adams University) into how agricultural science and extension can be supported and co-ordinated to address the productivity gap in UK agriculture.    

Mental Health

The importance of good mental health is increasingly being recognised across agriculture. Use this page to connect to useful initiatives and resources.

Government Food Strategy

George Eustice presented the response to Henry Dimbleby's National Food Strategy on 13 June 2022. Read the full text at the link below, or the Executive summary

The Sustainable Markets Initiative Agribusiness Task force

The SMI Agribusiness Task force makes clear what the private sector can do to make regenerative agriculture a 'no-brainer' for farmers and accellerate its adoption worldwide. 

WWF Land of Plenty

Land of Plenty is WWF's blueprint for how the agriculture and land use sectors in the UK can help fight climate change and bring nature back to life.

Comment - Wringing your hands or getting the ball rolling? Two approaches to decarbonising agriculture

As a thought-piece for Science for Sustainable Agriculture, science communicator Dr Julian Little examines two contrasting approaches taken by leading food businesses to promote more sustainable agriculture and food production – the apparently “unscalable” regenerative agriculture, and sustainable intensification. Which approach is most likely to deliver the necessary increases in global food production while at the same time reducing agriculture’s footprint, delivering net zero and leaving room for nature? And are they in conflict?

Small & Medium Scale Horticulture

Once upon a time the UK had a clever, innovative thriving horticultural industry. Sales were local and to markets and shop in towns across the UK. We have lost this industry and all that is left are massive businesses on thousands of acres supplying supermarkets and very small scale growers.  

Landscape Recovery

One of the schemes of ELMs

Breaking Down the Barriers to Agri-tech - Event

Farmers, growers, innovators and stakeholders coming together to maximise the potential of Agri-tech.  In person event at NIAB, Histon, Cambridge on 1 December

Agriculture 4.0: Making it work for people, production, and the planet

Scientific Paper by David Rose et al. in Land Use Policy 2021.

Nutrient Neutrality

Nutrient neutrality is a new issue of major importance to the UK. There are 74 planning areas in the UK where residential development has been held up until a solution is found to prevent absolute levels of P (reported as phosphorus not phosphate) and N (nitrogen) increasing in order to protect valuable habitats. The ruling is is often referred to as the "Dutch N" case. The calculation is complex and depends on the efficiency and any headroom of existing waste water treatment works (WWTW). WWTW are also to be subject to reductions in permitted nutrient emission in 2030.

Soil monitoring in Europe — Indicators and thresholds for soil health assessments

Report from European Environment Agency giving over of the metrics, challenges and plans for measuring soil health across Europe.  

Landscapes of support for farming mental health: Adaptability in the face of crisis

Academic paper in Sociologica Ruralis - Journal of the European Society of Rural Sociology in December 2022, by Faye Shortland, Jilly Hall, Paul Hurley, Ruth Little, Caroline Nye, Matt Lobley and David Christian Rose.

Land of opportunity - A new land use framework to restore nature and level up Britain

Report published by The Green Alliance by James Elliott, Lydia Collas and Dustin Benton in r

What is ELMs? Agri-Tech to support Environmental Land Management

What is ELMs? The three-tier Environmental Land Management (ELM

Defining and measuring agricultural sustainability

Article by Dr Julian

The environmental costs and benefits of high-yield farming

Scientific paper by Andrew Balmford & colleagues published in Nature Sustainability 2018:

Assessing the efficiency of changes in land use for mitigating climate change

Scientific paper in Nature by Tim Searchinger and colleagues on Carbon Opportunity Cost of ch

Farm of the Future - Journey to Net Zero

Report from RASE on getting to Net Zero.

Environment

Farming is intricately connected to the environment in various ways. The relationship between agriculture and the environment is a critical aspect of modern farming practices. Please share information, resources, tools and experiences on the multifaceted dimensions of how farming intersects with the environment.

Innovation

Innovation in agriculture refers to the development and implementation of new ideas, technologies, and practices in the agricultural sector.

AIC - Agricultural Industries Confederation

The Leading Voice for the Agrisupply Industry The Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) is the agrisupply industry’s leading trade association.

Defra Farming Blog

Get involved in the co-design of new policies and keep up to date with Defra's Future Farming & Countryside programme.

Future Farming Podcast

Interesting discussions on policy, farming and environment with Defra's Future Farming & Countryside Programme Director Janet Hughes

National Farm Advice Network

Initiative led by Jenny Phelps to bring together farm advisors to enable joined up discussions and collaborations farm advice.

ADAS Future Farming Resilience Fund - Service

The Future Farming Resilience Fund (FFRF) is a scheme set up by Defra to provide free business support to farmers and land managers during the early years of the agricultural transition. The third phase of the fund is now open for registration.

Biodiversity Net Gain

The concept of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is an important component of the UK Government's ambitions to reverse biodiversity loss. It provides a framework for ensuring that development and land management activities leave habitats in a measurably better state than beforehand. 

Green Alliance

Green Alliance is an independent think tank and charity focused on ambitious leadership for the environment.  

Land Use

Land use refers to the way that land is used and managed for various purposes, such as agriculture, housing, industry, and recreation.

Regulations

Unlocking the potential of agricultural science and technology

In July 2022 the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Commons took evidence on how to unlock the potential of agricultural science and technology.

E-Planner - CEH tool to help land management choices

E-Planner is a free tool developed by UKCEH to help farmers and other land mangers identify the most suitable places for different environmental management actions via easy to use, interactive maps.

ADAS Policy and Economics

Farming for Food & Nature Conference

Natural England provides an exciting opportunity for the farming community to decide the future for sustainable food production and thriving nature. In Birmingham on 28 November.

Low Carbon Agriculture 2023

The next Low Carbon Agriculture Show will take place on the 7 - 8 February 2023 at the National Agricultural Exhibition Centre (NAEC), Stoneleigh, to help farmers and landowners to rise to the challenge of producing more domestic, climate friendly food and energy.

Growing British - a strategy paper for promoting fresh produce production in the UK

Backing UK production would add an extra £0.5 billion in direct GDP contributions to the UK economy per year by 2032 as the growing industries transition to net zero carbon and the National Food Strategy is delivered. This strategy green paper charts how economic, environmental, and nutritional benefits can be realised in a vibrant fresh produce sector.

Future Farming Resilience: an update on farming support payments

An event for Organic, low input and in-conversion farms to highlight changes in farming support payments.

Gene editing consultation – what does it mean for agri-tech?

Regulation can hinder or stimulate innovation, so with advances in knowledge and technologies

The unnatural nature of food

Article by Matt Ridley

25 Year Environment Plan

Defra's policy document from 2018

Planning for Change: Using Whole Farm Plans to build farm resilience

Thursday 21 November, 10.30am–2.30pm Lumphinnans Farm, near Cowdenbeath

UK Farmer and Grower Research Priorities

Report launched by the NFU, Innovate UK and CEIA, reveals challenges that UK farmers and growers want researchers to prioritise solving. 

Co-designing the environmental land management scheme in England: The why, who and how of engaging ‘harder to reach’ stakeholders

Paper published in People and Nature on co-designing Defra's roll out of ELMs. Paul Hur

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