The Rural Update: Rebuilding bridges with farmers

Viewpoint

It was good news that Emma Reynolds, the relatively new Defra Secretary, used her seemingly sincere speech at last week’s Oxford Farming Conference to try to rebuild some bridges with the farming industry, which is still in a febrile mood despite the government’s recent partial U-turn on the family farm tax. The minister took the opportunity to announce the relaunch of the Sustainable Farming Initiative (SFI), which was controversially shut down by her predecessor Steve Reed last March.

However, Reynolds’ aspiration to focus her version of SFI on smaller farmers raises a fundamental question: Is the SFI an environmental scheme or is it to help replace some of the income lost following the post-Brexit paring back of the Basic Payment Scheme? If the former, reducing its scale seems counterproductive. If the latter, the country still has plenty to lose in terms of food security if medium-sized and larger farming businesses struggle to survive. Hopefully, the government’s new Farming and Food Partnership Board, launched just before Christmas, will bring some clarity to policymaking.

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Commodity markets

Pork problems

It has already been a worrying start to the year for pig producers with prices seeing the biggest weekly drops since the end of 2021. The growing gap between values in the UK and the EU, where prices have been falling rapidly, is helping to suck in exports. According to the EU Commission, disease issues have caused deadweight prices in Europe’s largest pork producer, Spain, to plummet to the equivalent of just £1.24/kg, compared with around £1.93/kg in the UK.

The headline

New SFI announced

As part of her speech to the Oxford Farming Conference (OFC) last week, Defra Secretary Emma Reynolds announced outline details of a new iteration of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI). The government drew the ire of farmers when it abruptly closed the SFI to new applicants last spring.

According to Reynolds, SFI 2026 will be focused on smaller farming businesses, which Defra categorises as those under 50 hectares (124 acres). She said only 4% of farmers were currently receiving 25% of the scheme’s funding.

The application window for smaller farms and those not already in SFI will open in June, with other claimants able to apply from September.

Details of the nature-friendly farming options available under the new scheme have yet to be released, but Reynolds said they would be reduced and simplified with a greater emphasis on actions that support sustainable food production.

Limits per holding could be put on more options that take land out of production and there could be a cap on the total amount that could be claimed by individual businesses.

Other environmental measures announced at OFC included a £30 million extension to the competitive Farming in Protected Landscapes grant scheme, which now runs until March 2029, as well as the start of a long-term partnership with communities in Dartmoor and Cumbria to help transform the English uplands.

News in brief

No more give on IHT

As part of her Oxford Farming Conference speech, Emma Reynolds also said that no further backtracking on the government’s controversial Inheritance Tax reforms was likely, following Keir Starmer’s partial pre-Christmas U-turn. However, the CLA said that it would continue to push for a full reversal. The NFU is shutting down its Stop the Family Farm Tax campaign but said it will continue to raise the issue with politicians. In an apparent snub to the mass farmer protests, Reynolds claimed it was the quiet lobbying of groups like the NFU and CLA that had changed the government’s mind, not “honking horns”.

Farmland prices stabilise

According to the Knight Frank Farmland Index, which tracks the value of bare agricultural land in England and Wales, the average price of land fell only marginally in the final quarter of 2025. However, diminishing farmer confidence and Inheritance Tax (IHT) worries saw prices slide by around 5% over the year. An acre is now worth just under £8,700. The government’s partial IHT U-turn just before Christmas should help stabilise prices during 2026.

Hen and lamb welfare

Proposals for new animal welfare standards for laying hens and lambs were announced yesterday (12 January) by Farm Minister Angela Eagle. Under the proposals, all colony cage systems across the laying hen sector would be phased out by 2032, including for smaller producers. Proposals for tighter restrictions on “sheep mutilation practices, such as castration and tail docking, which cause pain to lambs and are often carried out without pain relief,” are also being consulted on.

EU alignment bill

Press reports suggest that Keir Starmer will shortly present a bill to parliament that will allow the UK to formally dynamically align with EU regulations on things like food standards, animal welfare and pesticide use. Proponents of dynamic alignment say it will smooth the flow of cross-channel trade, which many claim has become trickier since Brexit. Others argue that the benefits will not be significant and will force the UK to accept EU standards that it will have no role in creating, as well as falling under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.

US beef and dairy health push

The US Department of Health has radically changed its dietary recommendations following a review instigated by Donald Trump’s controversial Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. A call to avoid ultra-processed foods and sugar has been lauded as common sense, but dietitians are split on advice that encourages greater consumption of saturated fats in meat and dairy products and suggests some plant-based cooking oils, such as those made with rapeseed, could be less healthy.

Swedish cheese boost

New research from Lund University in Sweden backs up some of the new advice from the US government, for cheese lovers at least. The study, which used data based on the dietary habits of almost 28,000 people, found that those who ate 50 grams of cheese with more than 20% fat each day had a 13% lower risk of developing dementia than those who ate under 15 grams daily. Fifty grams is equivalent to about five regular slices of cheese.

Politicians’ eco-perception gap

As politicians around the world pledge to roll back measures designed to mitigate the impact of climate change, a new study from the Political Psychology Lab at the University of Cambridge suggests such moves may not be as popular with voters as MPs hope. It claims politicians overestimate the public’s negativity to initiatives such as higher taxes on frequent fliers and red meat consumption by as much as 20%. MPs also tend to think their colleagues are less supportive of climate measures than they actually are.

Rural Report out now

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Property of the week

Scottish island opportunity

For the same price as a relatively modest family home in some parts of London, those looking for a secluded, yet luxurious bolthole, surrounded by breathtaking views, may want to check out Dippen Lodge on the Isle of Arran. The refurbished, seven-bedroom former hunting lodge, which is surrounded by 130 acres of formal grounds, pasture and woodland, has uninterrupted views of the Firth of Clyde. The estate offers deer stalking and rough shooting and includes a guest cottage. A further 100 acres of land could be available by separate negotiation. The guide price is £1.5 million. Please contact Tom Stewart-Moore for further details.

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