Principles of a new productivity scheme to sit alongside the proposed environmental land management scheme have been released by a farm group.
The Government's new environmental land management scheme will pay farmers to deliver a raft of public benefits.
The post-Brexit scheme will promote payments to deliver environmental and animal welfare outcomes.
However, the Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) said this cannot operate in isolation from measures to improve farm productivity and to correct for market failures within food supply chains.
Prior to the publication of the Agriculture Bill, Defra pushed out a briefing suggesting that the Government’s policy was all about public payments for public goods.
The TFA said "very little prominence" was given to measures required to assist the industry to improve productivity. However, the Bill itself does contain clauses which will provide Defra with powers to support productivity development.
TFA Farm Policy Adviser, Lynette Steel said: “Defra must now show that it will use the powers to introduce assistance to the farming industry to continue to deliver high quality food to UK and international consumers, produced to high standards of animal welfare and environmental management, at prices consumers can afford and at returns that reward the risk, investment and effort of the farming community.”
'Poor profitability'
The group's short paper sets out the principles of a new productivity scheme to sit alongside the proposed new environmental land management scheme.
It calls for funding to be made available for investment to improve infrastructure, knowledge exchange, skills development, research and innovation.
"Decades of poor profitability and changes in public policy have caused us to fall behind as an industry in all these areas and has limited our productivity growth. These areas must now be addressed to ensure the success of the industry in the post Brexit era,” added Ms Steel.
“The Government must deliver a scheme that focuses on driving productivity, allowing all farmers to make a step change in their businesses. Beyond the Agriculture Bill, the Government’s Industrial Strategy puts productivity at the top of its list of priorities.
She added: "This must also be true for agriculture and we need to see the Government giving priority to developing a scheme for productivity alongside its plans for environmental land management.”
The proposals include providing farm businesses with access to grants, loans and loan guarantees to implement business plans which have productivity and sustainability at their core.
During the Parliamentary debate at Second Reading of the Agriculture Bill, the Government made a commitment to assisting with progress towards maintaining and developing a sustainable and innovative farming industry centring on food production.
The TFA has now called for the Government to come forward with "concrete proposals" along the lines of those contained in the paper published today.
