Agriculture has been less affected than many industries by Covid-19, but due to Brexit and the switch to public money for public goods based support, this process is already underway for the industry and it is also clear that land use and management can play a significant role in helping the country achieve net zero by 2050.

In this issue of Landscope we launch our Spotlight on Rural Land and Carbon which investigates the environmental and economic impact of a range of scenarios on our Virtual Farm and the challenges and opportunities ahead for land managers. Achieving the net zero target will require investment from both the private sector and the government’s future Environmental Land Management scheme. The opportunity for land managers to shape this scheme is right now, as Defra’s consultation has reopened and will run until the end of July.

FOOD & FARMING

Launch of our Spotlight on Rural Land and Carbon
With unprecedented pressure being placed upon natural systems, public demand for action on climate change has never been higher. Rural land use is both hero and villain in this new era, facing enthusiasm and scrutiny in equal measure across habitat restoration, woodland creation and food production. It falls to rural land managers to address this critical topic with urgency and face both the challenges and opportunities ahead.

While climate change is far from a novel concept, many solutions will demand new and innovative approaches. The rural sector must therefore be open and receptive to change, both collectively as a sector and as individual stakeholders, to ensure its own survival and prosperity. Our Spotlight on Rural Land and Carbon looks at how that might begin. Key findings include:

• A simultaneous analysis of the carbon balance and gross margin of several farming scenarios through the Savills Virtual Farm shows that the future price of carbon will be critical in the adoption of low carbon farming

• How land managers can measure the emissions of their holdings and their produce

• Reasons for the renewed impetus behind climate change and how it is translating into policy decisions.

Support for gene editing
Environment Secretary George Eustice has suggested that the UK may diverge from EU policy on gene editing in the future. He said “gene editing is an area that we ought to be considering if we want to reduce our reliance on pesticides,” and described editing techniques as “really a more targeted form of conventional plant breeding”. He was careful to specify the difference between gene editing technology and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and said the framework for GMOs would not change. Currently GMOs and gene-edited organisms are treated equally under EU rules.

His remarks were prompted by a letter from the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on science and technology in agriculture, urging the government to introduce an amendment to the Agriculture Bill in the House of Lords to boost genetic innovation after Brexit. In a statement on the NFU website, Vice President Tom Bradshaw said he sees this amendment as an “opportunity that simply cannot be missed, to put the UK in a world-leading position to showcase sustainable climate-friendly farming.”

Reinvest in county farms
Analysis by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) shows the rate of loss of county farms has increased fivefold since 2016. It warns that if nothing is done to reverse the decline, such farms will be completely sold off in a little over 30 years. The CPRE said county farms will play a role both attracting new entrants to farming and developing new techniques to tackle the climate emergency. The government has said that it will make funding available for councils to invest in their county farms and to help them attract new entrants into the industry.

Covid-19

Many hospitality businesses can reopen
As of 4 July, certain businesses will be permitted to reopen as the easing of lockdown continues. Examples include holiday accommodation, pubs, restaurants, wildlife parks and heritage sites. Some businesses are still legally required to remain closed, these include spas, sports venues and conference centres.

Holiday accommodation including campsites, caravan parks and hotels can reopen. Shared facilities such as showers or kitchens must remain closed apart from on campsites where they can be provided as long as government guidance is followed. The government is strongly advising that shared sleeping spaces (i.e. dormitory rooms) should not open to any groups, except those travelling in accordance with the current government guidance.

All indoor and outdoor hospitality premises that are self-contained and can be accessed from the outside will also be permitted to open, including restaurants, pubs and cafes. People should only visit a restaurant in their household groups (or support bubbles), or with one other household, or with up to five other people outdoors. The Business and Planning Bill is also being rushed through Parliament before 4 July to allow more customers to be served outside. The current 28 day consultation period required for permission to set up tables and chairs outside will be cut to five days, and every venue with an alcohol licence will be given the right to sell beer and wine for people to drink on the pavement or the street.

In Scotland indicative dates have been published for self-catering holiday accommodation to reopen on 3 July and outdoor hospitality on 6 July. The Scottish Tourism Recovery Taskforce has been created to drive forward the recovery of Scotland’s tourism sector. In Wales, if conditions allow the restriction on traveling more than five miles from home is due to be lifted on 6 July. Bookings can be made for prospective holidays starting after 13 July and a review of the rules which have closed accommodation is due on 9 July.

Bounce back plan for agriculture
Defra and the Department for International Trade have launched a “bounce back” plan of trade measures for the agriculture, food and drink industries. Measures reportedly will include an overseas virtual buyer trial, a ‘Smart Distance Selling Process’, and a package of ‘Ready to Trade’ Exporting Masterclass webinars. The plan will also see the introduction of Defra’s first Agri-food Counsellor serving the United Arab Emirates and wider Gulf region. This new role will look to represent the interests of UK businesses already exporting, or planning to export, to the region. The Food & Drink SME E-commerce Accelerator Pilot will also be launched and look to increase the level of international e-commerce support for smaller and medium sized food and drink businesses, including agri-tech.

POLICY

Your chance to influence Defra’s ELM plans
Around a third of the 59 tests and trials which are being used to help design Defra’s Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes were delayed by Covid-19. Defra’s consultation on the design of ELM was also halted in April due to the pandemic. It has now re-opened and will run until 31 July. A series of interactive online seminars will be held throughout July to allow farmers and land managers to feed in.

At this stage the consultation is focused on the concept of a three tiered structure for ELM. Specific detail on what the government would pay for, and payment levels, has not been released. This information will be ready in September and published alongside a ‘road map’ detailing the actions up until 2024, when ELM is due to launch. Environment Secretary George Eustice also commented on ELM when providing evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee. When asked what the Department’s view was on the ability of the UK’s limited land area to meet all the competing demands being placed upon it, he argued that ELM, a more sustainable approach to the use of Grade 1 and Grade 2 agricultural land, and vertical farming all have a role to play.

It is likely that the pandemic also affected development of Defra’s plans for the agricultural transition period. Farming Minister Victoria Prentis recently said that the transition plans for 2021 will be published during July, and for 80% of farmers their total direct payment reduction will be no more than 5%. The Minister said she is assuming that money recouped by reducing direct payments “will be used within farming, possibly in a Covid-19 recovery or other emergency crisis scheme”.

Reservoir safety
The government is consulting on its plan to make all large raised reservoirs have an emergency contingency plan in place. Also known as an on-site flood plan, the aim is to help maintain public safety. The on-site flood plan would be designed to manage any risk posed that may result in an uncontrolled release of water from a reservoir which could cause flooding to the surrounding area. The consultation relates to England only and will run until 10 August 2020.

UK trade intentions
With just six months until the free trade agreement between Canada and the UK expires, the UK has expressed a will to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). In 2018, the partnership began to cut tariffs and introduce common standards with six of the 11 members ratifying the deal (Australia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam). Brunei, Chile, Malaysia and Peru are also signatories to the agreement but have yet to ratify it. The United States pulled out of the deal when President Donald Trump took office.

Additional members can join the CPTPP via a defined accession process. The UK, which only has one overseas territory in the Pacific, the Pitcairn Islands, has not yet served notice to request negotiations on membership. Nonetheless, a spokesperson for Canadian International Trade Minister Mary Ng said the partnership welcomed the UK’s interest. Collectively CPTPP members represented 13% of global GDP in 2018. With the UK, that would increase to 16%.

The UK has recently started free trade talks with several of the signatories including Japan and the United States, and most recently Australia. The UK was the second largest direct investor in Australia and the second largest recipient of Australian Foreign Direct Investment in 2019. In the UK government press release announcing the commencement of these negotiations, the UK again mentioned its intention to join the CPTPP, saying it was “determined to turbocharge its economic activity through membership”.

General licences re-issued
Six general licences for the control of wild birds in England will be reissued on a temporary basis to cover the period to 31 December. New licences will come into force as of 1 January 2021. Defra argues that the re-issue period is necessary to “thoroughly analyse the evidence and to fully develop a general licensing solution for protected sites”. It intends to publish new licences in November so that users are familiar with them before they come into force. Those licences are:

• GL26: Carrion crows, licence to kill or take them to prevent serious damage to livestock

• GL28: Canada geese, licence to kill or take them for public health and safety

•GL31: Woodpigeons, licence to kill or take them to prevent serious damage to crops

• GL34: Licence to kill or take wild birds to conserve wild birds and to conserve flora and fauna

• GL35: Licence to kill or take wild birds to preserve public health or public safety

• GL36: Licence to kill or take wild birds to prevent serious damage to livestock, foodstuffs for livestock, crops, vegetables, fruit, growing timber, fisheries or inland waters.

The initial challenge to the general licences was brought by campaign group Wild Justice. It is also challenging the release of gamebirds on nature conservation sites and has recently had its request for a judicial review approved. The court hearing is expected to be held before the end of October. In April, Defra asked the court to refuse the group’s request, describing it as “vexatious” and “pointless”.

ENVIRONMENT & NATURAL CAPITAL

Hitting woodland planting targets
Defra has launched a consultation to inform the new England Tree Strategy which is due to be published later this year. The consultation covers four key areas:

• Expanding and connecting woodland

• Protecting and improving existing woodland

• Engaging the public and connecting people to nature

• How woodland can support the economy

It is clear that in addition to ELM, Defra plans for private investment in ecosystem services to play a significant role in funding woodland creation and hitting our national targets. The consultation will close on 11 September.

The strategy will help the government to meet its annual tree planting target of 30,000 hectares. A topic which became a key focus of the last election. The latest national woodland statistics show that the planting rate is well below target. Provisional statistics to March 2020 suggest only 13,000 hectares of newly created woodland were reported in the UK in 2019-20. Around 15,000 hectares of publicly-funded woodland restocking were also reported.

By 31 March 2020, 239 Woodland Carbon Code projects had been validated in the UK, together they are predicted to sequester a total of 4.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over their lifetime of up to 100 years. Under these projects 12,000 hectares of woodland will be established, suggesting that the Code has the potential to play a significant role in incentivising the country to hit its tree planting targets. Care is needed to ensure that woodland establishment helps towards our net zero targets. A recent paper in the journal Nature Sustainability found that the amount of carbon that new forests can absorb may be overestimated. Conditions have a significant effect, for example trees planted in soils which are already rich in carbon actually decreased the density of organic carbon, whilst the density of organic carbon increased in carbon poor soils.

Progress of the 25 year Environment Plan
Back in 2018, the government established ten goals for long-term environmental improvement. They include thriving plants and wildlife, clean air, and minimising waste. Under each goal sits a number of outcome indicators. “Enhanced beauty, heritage and engagement with the natural environment” and “mitigating and adapting to climate change” are the only two goals which have seen positive outcomes across all of their indicators. Efforts to ensure clean and plentiful water and minimise waste have been deemed “stable”, with no change seen. The number of pests and diseases established in the UK as well as efforts to stem the number of invasive, non-native species entering the UK have both shown negative outcomes, making “enhancing biosecurity” the only goal to suffer entirely negative outcomes. This reinforces the case for the introduction of ELM to reward and incentivise farmers and land managers for good land management which improves biodiversity.

EU unable to curb biodiversity loss
The EU has failed to reverse biodiversity loss according to the European Court of Auditors (ECA). The Commission’s 2011 biodiversity strategy and the current Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) aimed to enhance biodiversity on farmland but have ultimately had little impact. In particular, the effectiveness of the CAP’s direct payment greening requirements at reducing biodiversity loss was considered minimal. Member states also diverted rural development funds to low-impact options despite the potential for greater outcomes. Targets set out in the 2011 biodiversity strategy were not measurable, rendering it difficult to monitor progress. The EU recently unveiled its new biodiversity strategy and claimed to have addressed many of the issues raised by the ECA report. However it stressed that its successful implementation depends upon how member states’ choose to develop their national schemes.

PROPERTY & DEVELOPMENT

Extension to planning permissions
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has confirmed that planning permission and listed building consent deadlines will be extended in England. Permissions and consents that are due to lapse between 23 March and 31 December 2020 are to be extended until 1 April 2021. Planning permissions which have already lapsed before these provisions come into force, will be subject to an additional Environmental Approval process before the automatic extension can take effect. The provisions will be introduced through the Business and Planning Bill, it is expected to be rushed through parliament before 4 July.

£80 million boost to cut emissions
The government has announced investment of nearly £80 million to help cut carbon emissions from homes and energy intensive businesses. It includes £25 million for heat networks, which reduce carbon and cut heating bills for customers, including a project in Gateshead which will harness geothermal water sitting in disused mines to heat 1,250 homes. If the technology is successful and economically viable, it is predicted that up to 6 million homes could be heated by geothermal water from mines. The funding will also support a pilot roll-out of innovative heat pumps and the development of innovative green home finance products by lenders.

OTHER RURAL NEWS

And finally…
Feeding a million bees
Two pig farmers have managed to feed one million bees after turning half their land over to wildflowers. Four years ago, 33 hectares were planted with a mix of nectar-rich blooms including phacelia, sainfoin, birds-foot trefoil, alsike clover, musk mallow, campion and vetch. Mark, a third generation farmer, said “this was our target when we started – to grow enough to feed a million bees on a single day”. Paul, his brother, added “between us we have six children and we owe it to them to farm sustainability and set an example for the generations to come.” One of those children, Grace, 18, has taken the lead on the big bee count, part of a wider set of surveys under the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme.