Greater than 1,700 farms on the outskirts of English cities and cities have disappeared since 2010, in line with a groundbreaking report revealed by CPRE, the countryside charity.
The report reveals that productive agricultural land surrounding city areas – land that might feed native communities and supply environmental advantages – is quickly being misplaced from farming.
The loss equates to 56,000 hectares of farmland, an space related in dimension to the town of Leeds, and represents a vital loss for each meals safety and environmental sustainability.
Whereas the areas studied within the report characterize simply 11.3% of UK agricultural land, they produce an outsize proportion of meals together with wheat (20.6%), oats (20.6%), barley (20%), potatoes (14.3%) and milk (13.3%).
These farms not solely present meals safety but in addition function important inexperienced buffers that help native ecosystems, cut back meals miles, and contribute £3.3 billion yearly to the UK economic system.
This disaster comes amid additional uncertainty for the agricultural sector, following Defra’s current announcement that the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme could be paused. This key post-Brexit cost programme was designed to reward farmers for environmental stewardship. It was halted abruptly final month, leaving many farmers with out essential monetary help.
CPRE’s new report follows its earlier analysis that confirmed how 14,000 hectares of England’s best farmland have been misplaced to growth since 2010, 60% of what stays is at excessive danger of flooding, and local weather information from the Nineteen Forties continues to be getting used to categorise the standard of UK agricultural land.
Graeme Willis, agricultural lead at CPRE, mentioned:
“Farms round our cities and cities produce important portions of meals however are disappearing at an alarming charge. Each hectare of farmland misplaced is greater than only a statistical decline, it’s an erosion of our countryside and our elementary nationwide resilience.
“Farmers are being requested to supply sustainable meals, defend biodiversity, enhance soil well being and fight local weather change – all whereas dealing with unprecedented financial challenges and pressures from growth. With out correct help programs in place, we danger dropping not simply farms near cities and cities however doing severe injury to the UK agricultural sector total.
“The government should urgently join up its policies on land use, food security and agricultural support in a way that recognises the vital role of the countryside around our towns and cities. This means strengthening planning protections for agricultural land and providing the necessary support to farmers to both put food on people’s plates and better manage the environment for future generations.”
