UK Nature-Friendly Farming Budget to Be Severely Cut, with Access Restricted to Small Farms
The UK government is set to make significant cuts to the nature-friendly farming budget in its upcoming spending review, limiting access to the scheme to small farms only, it has emerged.
Sources within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have confirmed that the post-Brexit farming support fund will face deep reductions in the review scheduled for 11 June. This move forms part of a broader package of departmental cuts, with funding for police, social housing, and environmental initiatives also expected to be hit hard.
Although Labour pledged £5 billion over two years (2024–2026) for nature-friendly farming in the budget—a commitment that is being upheld—the funding will be drastically reduced in the years that follow, with most farms excluded from future support.
The scheme in question replaced the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy and was designed to pay land managers for environmental stewardship, such as protecting soil, wildlife, and other public goods, rather than simply for land ownership or agricultural production. These payments are vital for the financial viability of many farms.
Defra is reportedly planning to concentrate the remaining funds on areas with high potential for ecological restoration, including upland regions and peatlands, where farmers may be paid to cease cultivation. Officials have indicated that only small farms will qualify for the revised scheme, excluding larger and wealthier landowners from receiving payments under the nature-friendly initiative.
Environmental groups have raised concerns that, alongside the Planning and Infrastructure Bill—which weakens protections for areas previously safeguarded under EU law—these changes will accelerate nature loss across the UK.
Meanwhile, the EU is reforming its Common Agricultural Policy to include payments that support biodiversity, highlighting a widening gap between British and European approaches. There are fears UK farmers will be forced to intensify production to stay afloat as subsidies are withdrawn entirely for some landowners.
Ministers are expected to argue that farm profitability will increase during this transition and that the new Nature Restoration Fund—linked to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill—will attract private investment into nature-focused farming.
Additionally, the government is reviewing biodiversity net gain rules, which currently require developers to deliver a 10% uplift in nature on new housing sites. Proposed changes could allow developments of up to 49 homes to benefit from looser requirements, raising concerns that these revisions will further undermine environmental protection.
Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, criticised the shift from direct public funding to reliance on private finance through the nature restoration fund.
“I think it’s dangerous to mix up those pots. We need decent funding for farmers to do nature recovery and you need decent funding for nature recovery in the wider countryside. If we start merging those together I don’t see how we are going to make any progress on our domestic and international targets.
“There are a lot of people very nervous about what’s going on – there are obviously massive concerns about the planning bill, which is slashing protections for otters, dolphins and so many treasured species. There’s concern about cuts to funding for nature friendly farming, there are rumours about the government pulling back on ambition from [biodiversity regulations for housebuilders] which would pull the rug from under the feet of private investors who are funding nature recovery.
“All this together will be pretty devastating, and very hard to see how we will deliver on Labour’s general election promises to deliver nature recovery.”
Defra declined to comment.
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