The NFU has ramped up pressure on the chancellor to safeguard vital funding for sustainable farming, warning that looming budget cuts could derail environmental progress and threaten farm livelihoods.
The union has added its voice to growing calls for the chancellor to protect funding for sustainable farming, as a joint letter with the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and RSPB has been sent ahead of the Spending Review.
The letter, signed by NFU president Tom Bradshaw, RSPB chief executive Beccy Speight, and BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson, warns that cuts to the farming budget could hurt environmental progress and threaten farm viability.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves will set out the government’s tax and spending priorities until 2030 as part of the Spending Review on Wednesday (11 June).
According to reports, the Treasury is planning to scale back support for the post-Brexit Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes.
It will form part of a broader wave of departmental cuts, with police, social housing, and environmental funding among those expected to be hit hardest.
Farming and environmental groups have repeatedly raised concerns that cuts would severely undermine farmers’ ability to deliver on vital environmental objectives.
In the letter, the signatories stress that British food is recognised for its high standards in environmental stewardship, animal welfare and food safety—yet these standards often come with additional costs for producers.
The letter, published in The Telegraph, says: "This critical funding enables farmers to invest in protecting rivers and wildlife, planting trees and hedges, and growing food in a more environmentally friendly way.
"All this is at risk if investment in sustainable farming is cut at the upcoming spending review. Without this investment, much of this vital work will simply stop and the future of farm businesses will be under threat.
"Nobody wants to see this happen. That’s why we’ve come together to urge the chancellor to protect the budget for sustainable farming."
It concludes: “For UK farming to thrive, we must not abandon our environment, our countryside and our homegrown food. This is what British consumers want and our environment needs.”
ELMs, which include the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), have been a cornerstone of the UK’s post-Brexit agricultural strategy, replacing the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy with a system designed to reward farmers for environmental stewardship.
Since its launch in 2022, the SFI has supported over 37,000 farms in delivering environmental outcomes such as healthier soils, cleaner water, and increased habitats for wildlife.
Defra’s own figures show that 75,000km of hedgerows are currently being actively managed under the scheme, contributing to biodiversity, carbon storage and improved water management.
But Alice Groom, head of sustainable land use policy at the RSPB, said a slash to the budget would leave Labour's credibility on nature and climate "in tatters".
“Cutting the nature-friendly farming budget would have a catastrophic impact on the UK’s ability to tackle the nature and climate crisis, and undermine our long-term food security."
