The Climate Change Committee (CCC) report has given a stark warning that over half of top-quality agricultural land across England is at risk of flooding and the NFU is calling on the government to prioritise investment in water management in its upcoming Spending Review.
County farmers felt the full force of extreme weather on their businesses when their farms were hit by incessant rain and winter storms last year and in 2023.
The call for investment following the report’s publication on 30 April had been backed by farmer Joe Stanley who represents county NFU members and those across the region on environment issues having an impact on the industry.
Mr Stanley, who is also NFU Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland chair, said: “The latest adaptation progress report from the CCC makes a worrying assessment that the UK is not appropriately prepared for greater and more regular weather extremes, which is likely to put both homegrown food production and the UK’s biodiversity at risk.
“The report comes as a timely reminder that a changing climate is already posing significant challenges for farmers across the Midlands and beyond to deliver on food security and the environment.
“The NFU is rightly calling on government to engage with joined-up thinking on how greater climate extremes can be managed in the coming decades.
“This is vital not only for food and nature but also for how our farmed landscape can contribute to reducing the risk of urban flooding through appropriate land management measures.”
The National Audit Office Resilience to Flooding report published identified a continuous shortfall in Environment Agency flooding maintenance funding.
Even now, many farms affected are still trying to recover from the damage to their land and their businesses from last year’s relentless rain, which made it in one of the wettest years on record.
Mr Stanley said this was why the NFU was asking the Chancellor in her Spending Review to establish a long-term investment plan to improve the UK’s failing flooding infrastructure, with funding allocations which recognise rural needs.
Following the publication of the report NFU President Tom Bradshaw said the impact of climate change was clear for all to see.
“Last year we experienced one of the most challenging growing seasons in living memory with thousands of acres of farmland under water early in the year,” he said.
“Even now, more than 12 months on and during the warmest week of the year so far, farm businesses are still working to recover.
“Not only does flooding cause significant damage to people’s properties and livelihoods, it also puts the UK’s food production at risk.
“Last year’s wheat harvest was one of the worst in 20 years. At a time when global food supply chains are far from stable, we have to do what we can to protect and boost homegrown food production.
“Recovering from flood damage comes at a huge cost to the taxpayer. Climate extremes are not going away and we need to be investing in the maintenance and expansion of our flooding defences now to minimise damage in the future.”
In the previous government’s response to the CCC’s 2023 report, it focused on the Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes as the key way to mitigate flood risk for farm businesses.
However, with the sudden closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive earlier this year due to budget limitations, which shut off access to the scheme for thousands of businesses overnight, the NFU is highlighting critical gaps in government policy and funding which urgently needs addressing.
Mr Bradshaw added: “This is a clear example of where policies and budgets need to be much more joined up, something the CCC also highlights in its report. In 2023 the government said the best way farmers could adapt their businesses to a changing climate was through the SFI scheme, but then this year it shut up shop.
“Everything comes back to sufficient funding. We need an agricultural budget which allows more farm businesses to take these important measures through the SFI, and a nationwide flooding investment plan, which recognises rural needs, to make the UK more resilient to any extreme weather that comes come our way.”