The Soil Association has warned that if the UK Government ditches plans to pay farmers to protect nature and climate it will be making a “catastrophic mistake”.
The warning from the organic charity comes amid predictions that the new prime minister is about to abandon the Environmental Land Management Schemes, previously touted by Conservative ministers as a ‘Brexit bonus’ for farmers and the country.
In a twitter thread posted yesterday, the Soil Association said: “Tackling the climate emergency and mass decline in wildlife populations is vital for our long-term food security. To abandon plans to transform the way we support English farmers at such a crucial time would be an outrage”.
“Tackling the climate emergency and mass decline in wildlife populations is vital for our long-term food security. To abandon plans to transform the way we support English farmers at such a crucial time would be an outrage”
Abandoning what the group describes as the “biggest opportunity to fix our broken farming support system in 50 years” would be a “betrayal of our commitments to nature” and to the many farmers who have already invested in Elms.
The thread concludes: “Government must proceed with the most evidence-based solution as planned – a rapid shift to agroecological, nature-friendly farming”.