Steve Reed, the new Secretary of State for Defra has announced an initial direction of travel and priorities.
Fuller details are contained in his speech of 31st July and two press announcements on 1st August.
There are five priority areas for Defra – and farming is one of them!
They have been summarised as follows:
clean up rivers, lakes and seas;
create a roadmap to move Britain to a zero waste economy;
boost food security;
ensure nature’s recovery and
protect communities from the dangers of flooding.
For farming, he has said the following.
“We will support farmers to strengthen Britain’s food security and boost rural growth with a new deal for farmers, cutting energy bills, ending trade deals that undermine environmental and welfare standards, and buying more British produce with the public purse.”
Defra is concerned that its Farming Opinion Tracker survey, continues to show low confidence for the future.
For nature recovery, he has said the following.
“We will speed up nature’s recovery, working with civil society, communities and businesses to restore and protect our natural world on land and in our oceans – at home as well as internationally.”
Due to concerns about poor progress, a ‘rapid review’ is planned by the end of this year of the Environmental Improvement Plan, which was published in 2023 as a revision of the 25 year environment plan.
The following gives an idea of how Defra are thinking.
“The Government will develop a new, statutory plan to protect and restore our natural environment with delivery plans to meet each of our ambitious Environment Act targets. This will focus on cleaning up our waterways, reducing waste across the economy, planting millions more trees, improving air quality and halting the decline in species by 2030.
The review will engage with stakeholders across environment and nature, farming, resources, waste and water sectors, working hand in glove with businesses, local authorities and civil society across the country to develop new ambitious plans to save nature.”
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