CPRE response to the Government’s consultation on a post-Brexit agricultural policy

CPRE has responded to the Government’s consultation on the future agricultural policy post-Brexit, ‘Health and Harmony: the future for food, farming and the environment in a Green Brexit’. In it, we welcome the Government’s commitments to reversing environmental damage, linking public funding to the delivery of public benefits and maintaining high standards in trade agreements. However, long term public investment in the environment through farming is vital if we are to deliver the 25 year environment plan. Taking these policies as a given, the remaining key issues for CPRE are to:

– Create a dynamic, innovative farming sector by reversing the dramatic loss of farms, mainly smaller farms, over recent decades. Tailored support should be offered to ensure smaller farms make the most of the new policy, to develop sustainable businesses.

 – Reverse the decline of our beautiful landscapes that people care about so much. Landscapes everywhere must be enhanced through agricultural policy, particularly those around urban areas where most people live. By targeting support to determine where specific actions are taken in the landscape, multiple benefits can be delivered. The tools to do this are already available.

CPRE also calls for more action to improve soils to benefit both farming and the environment, more Government-funded advice to accompany these policy changes and the piloting of innovative schemes such as support for whole farm approaches.

Read our full response in the document below.