SOIL
INCENTIVE PITFALLS
Farmers
to be paid for sustainable practices
Critics
say soil quality is difficult to measure
Article from Big Issue North magazine
Agricultural
experts who believe soil quality is critical for the UK’s food supply have
welcomed the government’s decision to pay farmers to improve it for the first
time. But concerns remain over how soil quality will be assessed and the
mechanism for paying farmers.
Following
Brexit, Britain is phasing out the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy
farm subsidies and replacing them with the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)
scheme, to be introduced next year.
According to
the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the SFI is
“centred around incentivising sustainable farming practices alongside profitable
food production and rewarding farmers for producing public goods such as better
air and water quality, protecting wildlife and improving soil health”.
Compaction
and erosion
The plans
are part of the government’s 25-year Environment Plan, which includes a net
zero carbon ambition.
Soil quality
and biodiversity supports agricultural production and the storage of carbon.
But almost 4 million hectares of soil in England and Wales are at risk of
compaction, according to the Environment Agency, and 2 million hectares are at
risk of erosion.
Intensive
agriculture has caused arable soils to lose 40-60 per cent of their organic
carbon, said the Environment Agency in July. But it added that there is
insufficient data on soil health and called for investment in monitoring.
From next
year, farmers can sign up to SFI schemes to improve arable and horticultural
soils at payments between £30 and £59 per hectare and grassland soils at £6-£8
per hectare. According to a Defra spokesperson: “Healthy soil is key to
supporting our targets on the environment and improving farm profitability.
Well managed soils can lead to increased biodiversity, increased carbon
sequestration and storage, improved water quality and flood prevention.”
Food
scientist Charlie Clutterbuck, an academic and author who holds a PhD in soil
ecology, welcomed the government’s newfound commitment to monitoring soil
quality. But he said that should begin with “an England-wide measurement of
soil carbon”, investment in more research facilities and a legally binding
commitment to improving soil quality.
Clutterbuck
has calculated that Britain, which currently imports half its food, could
reduce this to around 25-30 per cent through better land management and soil
content. In turn, many countries that currently export to Britain could begin
to grow food for their own people, many of whom go hungry.
“We need
that better soil to produce more local produce to regenerate rural communities
and not fund carbon offset schemes that benefit the City,” added Clutterbuck.
Government
promises
SFI will be
phased in over seven years, while in the next three years farmers will lose
half their former EU subsidies. They mean more to smaller northern hill
farmers, earning around £25,000 annually, than larger farmers on the richer
plains in the south and east. Some farmers, many of whom have farmed for
generations, are being offered incentives to quit the land.
Critics say
this is at odds with Boris Johnson’s promise, made in 2016 at a cattle market
in Clitheroe, that farmers would get the same amount of money – “100%
guaranteed” – from subsidies after leaving the EU, while being relieved of red
tape.
The first
SFI schemes will start next spring but, according to environmental law expert
Richard Smith, “few farmers have signed up to the new programme”. Farmers’ have
low trust in Defra due to its previous management of agricultural subsidies.
A Defra
spokesperson said it was planning a “comprehensive programme of soil monitoring
across farms participating in the early roll-out. The first stage will be
establishing a baseline for a range of soil health indicators.”
The
spokesperson added: “There is a wealth of expertise in soil health within the
UK including scientists from the University of Lancaster and UK Centre for
Ecology & Hydrology.”
MARK METCALF