Can Defra’s roadmap deliver for farms and food security?

After a two-year wait, farming finally got a long-term plan from Defra last week, with a roadmap to make the sector “more profitable, sustainable and resilient”.

Intended to align with the government’s National Food Strategy and Land Use Framework, the Farming Roadmap 2050 “strengthens profitability and food security and sets out a clear direction of travel for a thriving future”, according to Defra secretary Emma Reynolds.

So, is the roadmap all farming had hoped? And given the country will soon be on its sixth prime minister in seven years, what are the prospects of government sticking to it?

“Our ambition is straightforward: profitable farms that maintain domestic food production, fair rewards for the farmers who produce that food, good jobs in farming with clear career paths into farming, and a sector that helps restore nature and meet our climate goals while contributing to the growth of the British economy,” says Reynolds.

Farmers also face new requirements. They will eventually produce affordable food on 9% less land, using lower-input “regenerative” practices to improve environmental and supply chain sustainability and resilience, the roadmap says, leaving much to be fleshed out.

Defra also wants “a farming regulatory system that supports growth and innovation”. This means “raising some standards with clear, proportionate rules that improve water, air, and animal health and welfare”.

“It’s good to see resilience, profitability, productivity and sustainability at [the roadmap’s] heart,” says NFU president Tom Bradshaw.

Former NFU president Minette Batters, who led the government’s Farming Profitability Review, agrees “there’s a lot to like in there”.

But both share concerns about delivery, claiming the plan is bereft of the detail that would be expected of a ‘roadmap’, albeit packaged as “a nice document, with nothing to disagree with”, adds Batters.

Private funding

Batters’ strongest criticism is reserved for the funding plan. Unlike Environmental Land Management schemes, which are tipped for public funding, the roadmap will rely heavily on the private sector, including lenders, retailers and manufacturers. It will bring together “investors, retailers and industry bodies to develop proposals for channelling private finance into sustainable food production”, the roadmap says.

“A lot depends on getting private markets to function at the scale needed,” says Batters. “If it’s just a few contracts, it won’t deliver for the environment or make us food secure.”

British Apples & Pears executive chair Ali Capper thinks the “proof in the pudding” will be the Horticulture Sector Growth Plan, due to be delivered this year. If it reforms and better resources the planning system, helps farmers manage energy costs, and reduces the cost and regulation of labour – all mentioned in the roadmap – it could encourage investment and help the roadmap deliver.

There is also the question of support from No 10, with the PM’s office having intervened and shelved key Defra policies in recent years.

Some cause for optimism came in a speech by Andy Burnham, who is almost certain to be the next prime minister, when he said the country needed to “safeguard” farming and other “critical sectors”, rather than “just being prepared to let it go”. It was farming’s only mention.

Capper maintains: “If Defra can take accountability for the policy changes and enable the sector to take accountability for the investment, we could be onto something really exciting.

“If the government gets behind it, brilliant,” she adds. But if not, it will be a considerable “waste of time”.