Health and Harmony: the future for food, farming and the environment in a Green Brexit Consultation

On the 27 February 2018, Defra published a consultation on “Health and Harmony: the future for food, farming and the environment in a Green Brexit”. The policy team is looking to work with our membership to respond to relevant questions.

As this is a large consultation with 15 sections and 49 questions, we are seeking the help of our members to inform the response. If you are interested in shaping the BES response, please email Camilla (Policy Manager) and Sara (Policy Officer), indicating which section and / or specific question(s) you are responding to, then send us your thoughts, and the latest reports, papers or evidence.

Please email Camilla and Sara by 23 March. We will collate and formulate a draft response which will be sent out to all the contributors in April for their final comments and input. The response will then need to go to the BES Policy Committee to receive final sign off ahead of the deadline on the 8^th May.

Below we have pulled out all the questions from each section. However, it is worth reading the related section of the consultation before emailing us your response:

Section 2: Reform within the CAP

1. Please rank the following ideas for simplification of the current CAP, indicating the three options which are most appealing to you:
   1. Develop further simplified packages
   2. Simplify the application form
   3. Expand the online offer
   4. Reduce evidence requirements in the rest of the scheme
2. How can we improve the delivery of the current Countryside Stewardship scheme and increase uptake by farmers and land managers to help achieve valuable environmental outcomes?

Section 3: An ‘agricultural transition’

3. What is the best way of applying reductions to Direct Payments? Please select your preferred option from the following:
   1. Apply progressive reductions, with higher percentage reductions applied to amounts in higher payment bands *
   2. Apply a cap to the largest payments
   3. Other (please specify)

* please provide views on the payment bands and percentage reductions we should apply.

4. What conditions should be attached to Direct Payments during the ‘agricultural transition’? Please select your preferred options from the following:
   1. Retain and simplify the current requirements by removing all of the greening rules
   2. Retain and simplify cross compliance rules and their enforcement
   3. Make payments to current recipients, who are allowed to leave the land, using the payment to help them do so
   4. Other (please specify)
5. What are the factors that should drive the profile for reducing Direct Payments during the ‘agricultural transition’?
6. How long should the ‘agricultural transition’ period be?

Section 4: A successful future for farming

Farming excellence and profitability

7. How can we improve the take-up of knowledge and advice by farmers and land managers? Please rank your top three options by order of preference:
   1. Encouraging benchmarking and farmer-to-farmer learning
   2. Working with industry to improve standards and coordination
   3. Better access to skills providers and resources
   4. Developing formal incentives to encourage training and career development
   5. Making Continuing Professional Development (CPD) a condition of any future grants or loans
   6. Other (please specify)
8. What are the main barriers to new capital investment that can boost profitability and improve animal and plant health on-farm? Please rank your top three options by order of the biggest issues:
   1. Insufficient access to support and advice
   2. Uncertainty about the future and where to target new investment
   3. Difficulties with securing finance from private lenders
   4. Investments in buildings, innovation or new equipment are prohibitively expensive
   5. Underlying profitability of the business
   6. ‘Social’ issues (such as lack of succession or security of tenure)
   7. Other (please specify)
9. What are the most effective ways to support new entrants and encourage more young people into a career in farming and land management?
10. Does existing tenancy law present barriers to new entrants, productivity and investment?

Agricultural technology and research

11. What are the priority research topics that industry and government should focus on to drive improvements in productivity and resource efficiency? Please rank your top three options by order of importance:
    1. Plant and animal breeding and genetics
    2. Crop and livestock health and animal welfare
    3. Data driven smart and precision agriculture
    4. Managing resources sustainably, including agro-chemicals
    5. Improving environmental performance, including soil health
    6. Safety and trust in the supply chain
    7. Other (please specify)
12. How can industry and government put farmers in the driving seat to ensure that agricultural R&D delivers what they need? Please rank your top three options by order of importance:
    1. Encouraging a stronger focus on near-market applied agricultural R&D
    2. Bringing groups of farms together in research syndicates to deliver practical solutions
    3. Accelerating the ‘proof of concept’ testing of novel approaches to agricultural constraints
    4. Giving the farming industry a greater say in setting the strategic direction for research funding
    5. e) Other (please specify)
13. What are the main barriers to adopting new technology and ideas on-farm, and how can we overcome them?

Labour: a skilled workforce

14. What are the priority skills gaps across UK agriculture? Please rank your top three options by order of importance:
    1. Business / financial
    2. Risk management
    3. Leadership
    4. Engineering
    5. Manufacturing
    6. Research
    7. Other (please specify)
15. What can industry do to help make agriculture and land management a great career choice?
16. How can government support industry to build the resilience of the agricultural sector to meet labour demand?

Section 5: Public money for public goods

17. Which of the environmental outcomes listed below do you consider to be the most important public goods that government should support? Please rank your top three options by order of importance:
    1. Improved soil health
    2. Improved water quality
    3. Better air quality
    4. Increased biodiversity
    5. Climate change mitigation
    6. Enhanced beauty, heritage and engagement with the natural environment
18. Of the other options listed below, which do you consider to be the most important public goods that government should support? Please rank your top three options by order of importance:
    1. World-class animal welfare
    2. High animal health standards
    3. Protection of crops, tree, plant and bee health
    4. Improved productivity and competitiveness
    5. Preserving rural resilience and traditional farming and landscapes in the uplands
    6. Public access to the countryside
19. Are there any other public goods which you think the government should support?

Section 6: Enhancing our environment

20. From the list below, please select which outcomes would be best achieved by incentivising action across a number of farms or other land parcels in a future environmental land management system:
    1. Recreation
    2. Water quality
    3. Flood mitigation
    4. Habitat restoration
    5. Species recovery
    6. Soil quality
    7. Cultural heritage
    8. Carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas reduction
    9. Air quality
    10. Woodlands and forestry
    11. Other (please specify)
21. What role should outcome based payments have in a new environmental land management system?
22. How can an approach to a new environmental land management system be developed that balances national and local priorities for environmental outcomes?
23. How can farmers and land managers work together or with third parties to deliver environmental outcomes?

7. Fulfilling our responsibility to animals

24. Do you think there is a strong case for government funding pilots and other schemes which incentivise and deliver improved welfare?
25. Should government set further standards to ensure greater consistency and understanding of welfare information at the point of purchase? Please indicate a single preference of the below options:
    1. Yes
    2. Yes, as long as it does not present an unreasonable burden to farmers
    3. Perhaps in some areas
    4. No, it should be up to retailers and consumers
    5. Other (please specify) *if you answered ‘perhaps in some areas’, please elaborate.
26. What type of action do you feel is most likely to have the biggest impact on improving animal health on farms? Please rank your top three choices from the below list, in order of importance:
    1. Use of regulation to ensure action is taken
    2. Use of financial incentives to support action
    3. Supporting vets to provide targeted animal health advice on farm
    4. Making it easier for retailers and other parts of the supply chain to recognise and reward higher standards of animal health
    5. An industry body with responsibility for promoting animal health
    6. Research and knowledge exchange
    7. Transparent and easily accessible data
    8. An understanding of animal health standards on comparable farms
    9. Other (please specify)
    10. j) N/A – Cannot rank as they are all equally important.
27. How can the government best support industry to develop an ambitious plan to tackle endemic diseases and drive up animal health standards?

Section 8: Supporting rural communities and remote farming

28. How should farming, land management and rural communities continue to be supported to deliver environmental, social and cultural benefits in the uplands?
29. There are a number of challenges facing rural communities and businesses. Please rank your top three options by order of importance:
    1. Broadband coverage
    2. Mobile phone coverage
    3. Access to finance
    4. Affordable housing
    5. Availability of suitable business accommodation
    6. Access to skilled labour
    7. Transport connectivity
    8. Other, please specify
30. With reference to the way you have ranked your answer to the previous question, what should government do to address the challenges faced by rural communities and businesses post-EU Exit?

Section 9. Changing regulatory culture

31. How can we improve inspections for environmental, animal health and welfare standards? Please indicate any of your preferred options below.
    1. Greater use of risk-based targeting
    2. Greater use of earned recognition, for instance for membership of assurance schemes
    3. Increased remote sensing
    4. Increased options for self-reporting
    5. Better data sharing amongst government agencies
    6. Other (please specify)
32. Which parts of the regulatory baseline could be improved, and how?
33. How can we deliver a more targeted and proportionate enforcement system?

Section 10. Risk management and resilience

34. What factors most affect farm businesses’ decisions on whether to buy agricultural insurance? Please rank your top three options by order of importance:
    1. Desire to protect themselves from general risks (e.g. – revenue protection)
    2. Desire to protect themselves from specific risks (e.g. – flooding, pests or disease)
    3. Provision of government compensation for some risks
    4. Cost of insurance
    5. Complexity and administrative burden of insurance
    6. Availability of relevant insurance products
    7. Other (please specify)
35. What additional skills, data and tools would help better manage volatility in agricultural production and revenues for (a) farm businesses and (b) insurance providers?
36. How can current arrangements for managing market crises and providing crisis support be improved?

Section 11. Protecting crop, tree, plant and bee health

37. Where there are insufficient commercial drivers, how far do you agree or disagree that government should play a role in supporting:
    1. Industry, woodland owners and others to respond collaboratively and swiftly to outbreaks of priority pests and diseases in trees?
    2. Landscape recovery following pest and disease outbreaks, and the development of more resilient trees?
    3. The development of a bio-secure supply chain across the forestry, horticulture and beekeeping sectors?
38. Where there are insufficient commercial drivers, what role should government play in:
    1. Supporting industry, woodland owners and others to respond collaboratively and swiftly to outbreaks of priority pests and diseases in trees?
    2. Promoting landscape recovery following pest and disease outbreaks, and the development of more resilient trees?
39. What support, if any, can the government offer to promote the development of a bio-secure supply chain across the forestry, horticulture and beekeeping sectors?

Section 12. Ensuring fairness in the supply chain

40. How can we improve transparency and relationships across the food supply chain? Please rank your top three options by order of importance:
    1. Promoting Producer Organisations and other formal structures?
    2. Introducing statutory codes of conduct?
    3. Improving the provision of data on volumes, stocks and prices etc.?
    4. Other (please specify)?
41. What are the biggest barriers to collaboration amongst farmers?
42. What are the most important benefits that collaboration between farmers and other parts of the supply chain can bring? How could government help to enable this?

Section 13. Devolution: maintaining cohesion and flexibility

43. With reference to the principles set out by JMC(EN)* above, what are the agriculture and land management policy areas where a common approach across the UK is necessary?
44. What are the likely impacts on cross-border farms if each administration can tailor its own agriculture and land management policy?

* The JMC (EN) agreed the following principles: Common frameworks will be established where they are necessary in order to:

• enable the functioning of the UK internal market, while acknowledging policy divergence
• ensure compliance with international obligations
• ensure the UK can negotiate, enter into and implement new trade agreements and international treaties
• enable the management of common resources
• administer and provide access to justice in cases with a cross-border element
• safeguard the security of the UK

Section 14. International trade

45. How far do you agree or disagree with the broad priorities set out in the trade chapter?
46. How can government and industry work together to open up new markets?
47. How can we best protect and promote our brand, remaining global leaders in environmental protection, food safety, and in standards of production and animal welfare?

Section 15. Legislation: The Agriculture Bill

48. How far do you agree with the proposed powers of the Agriculture Bill?
49. What other measures might we need in the Agriculture Bill to achieve our objectives?