Country needs to ramp up efforts to recover nature, not cut them, says CRT chair of trustees The Countryside Regeneration Trust is very concerned to learn the government could slash the nature-friendly farming budget in England by £100m. Investment now in nature-friendly farming is critical to meet legally binding nature and climate targets and to support a living, working countryside where sustainable food production has nature-friendly farming at its core. According to an article in the Guardian, the cut would mean at least 239,000 fewer hectares of land farmed in a nature-friendly way . The reduced spending would affect the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS), which pays farmers for environment benefits produced on their land. Under the scheme, farmers can choose from many options such as to improve or maintain their land for nature, improve river quality and reduce flooding downstream. Examples include restoring wildflower meadows and creating field margins, wetland creation and managing hedgerows for birds, butterflies and bees. Sue Everett, the CRT chair of the trustees, said: “Make no mistake a £100 million cut to the ELMS budget for England would be dreadful for farmers and for nature - this cut will come at a time when the country needs to ramp up efforts to recover nature and ensure farmers are adequately rewarded for maintaining and restoring threatened habitats and species. "Nature is still in decline and ambitious targets to halt and reverse this decline will not be met with less money. It should also be noted that the underspend is largely related to farmers holding back on entering schemes such as Countryside Stewardship and the Sustainable Farming Incentive because many options did not pay enough; they also knew that the ELMS offer was under review and due to change. These changes are still being introduced, with many only having recently become available this year. Farmers can now be better rewarded for their work to recover nature, and I would expect an increased take-up of ELMS this year and in future years as the scheme is further improved." How you can help Our farmers can’t do it without you. If you want to help us protect local wildlife and help farmers continue to farm in a nature-friendly way, you can support the CRT in any number of ways, from joining as a CRT Friend to volunteering on one of our farms and attending our events. You can also sign-up to our monthly newsletter 'CRT News' for regular updates from our farms, straight to your inbox. Join Donate Volunteer News Published: September 2024 Manage Cookie Preferences