To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of (a) extending the Future Farm Resilience Fund and (b) introducing any new schemes of monetary support for farms.
Answered on
10 December 2024
- The Farming Resilience Fund (FRF) was developed to help farmers through the early years of the Agricultural Transition, specifically to assist farm businesses to adapt to the initial reductions in the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) by providing specialist business advice. To date, over 25,000 farmers have received 1-2-1 support. The FRF will conclude March 2025. Farmers yet to receive any support are therefore encouraged to contact the organisations listed on GOV.UK before the end of December 2024. Defra has received feedback suggesting many participants have recognised the value of the advice provided and it is our hope that many of the relationships and connections built through the FRF will continue beyond the scheme's official end date.
- In the Budget announced in October, the Government committed £5 billion to the farming budget over two years. This Government has committed to environmental land management schemes. The budget included £1.8 billion for these schemes in 2025/26, the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history. This will deliver improvements to food security, biodiversity, carbon emissions, water quality, air quality and flood resilience. We will work with the sector to continue to roll out, improve and evolve these schemes, to make them work for farming and nature.