Thread by @mattadamw

There has been a lot of reporting of the Government's new Food Strategy, including some confusion and mis-reporting because a draft was leaked last week and it was superseded by final version which was different.

Some thoughts and clarifications. 🧵

gov.uk/government/pub…

[NB this thread looks mostly at the part of the Strategy that covers new farming system, especially para 1.2.3. Not at other parts of Strategy]

Some are making out that the Food Strategy is totemic of Government's waning commitment to its net zero/enviro agenda.

I don't agree with this.

For eg

"For now, some of the climate-sensitive initiatives that marked the early days of the Johnson premiership — the tree-planting, the peat restoration, rewilding — will have to give ground to food production."

Or "Boris Johnson turns his back on green agenda" from the same paper.

But in the Strategy Govt has achieved a balancing act between food production & net zero measures.

Is it perfect? No.
Is it a huge change of heart/climbdown? No.

Nor is this Food Strategy the be all, end all of Govt's commitment to achieving #NetZero (thru land or thru other sectors).

Some of this was driven by what was in the LEAKED DRAFT, which may have been a sign of a Govt wavering.

But the final strategy showed the Govt's resolution to achieve net zero, including through the food & farming system.

In last 18 months or so rocketing food prices and costs of inputs (e.g. fertiliser) for farmers and families have shown that climate change fossil fuels make food system vulnerable and expensive.
#CostOfNotZero

It's not just one tyrant (Putin) making food a weapon of war. This is systemic: climate change is driving more extreme weather (in UK and overseas) that is affecting food prices + supplies.

Food security = net zero

The Strategy contains focus on food security + producing as much in UK as we do today.

This may be sensible - the food we get from other countries may be ↑ at risk from climate change.

But food security (having enough affordable, healthy, nutritious food) ≠ food sovereignty (growing it all here).

All our eggs in one basket is risky too.

Let's remind ourselves of why farming is part of the Food Strategy and why it's playing more of a role in net zero.

England (and wider UK) is in middle of shift to a new farming system.

New farming system will have 3 parts that will focus on making food production more enviro friendly:
🚜 what farmers do in fields (eg ploughing)
🚜 bringing back nature on farms, eg hedgerows, ponds
🚜 🚜 multiple farmers working together to restore nature like forests/peatlands

The annual £2.1bn budget that has previously been paid to farmers mostly based on *size of farm* will now pay for these net zero outcomes.

This previous systems has rewarded biggest farms most - 50% of whole budget went to largest 10% of farms.

These three parts of new system are called:
Sustainable Farming Incentive
Local Nature Recovery
*Landscape Recovery* (remember this one, it comes up later)

Each of the three bits of the new system would get around £700m per year, from 2028 onwards.

Govt had previously said the money would probably be split evenly.

This would mean £700m for nature recovery, and £700m for landscape recovery.

These figures matter.

Splitting the money in this way is optimal for meeting the UK's net zero (and nature goals).

This was shown by analysis in the independent advice published last year that came before Govt's new Food Strategy.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl… https://t.co/5xyszmsRdH

Confusion arose from LEAKED DRAFT of Food Strategy.

It said that most of money for Landscape Recovery would no longer come from new farming system £2.1bn pot.

Instead, money would come from totally separate pot, the Nature for Climate Fund.

Nature for Climate Fund is for peatlands & trees. It was announced by Chancellor in 2020. It's a similar size - £750m.

BUT it's spread over 5 years (2021-24). And it doesn't exist after 2024.

This led to major concerns that money for landscape measures would get 5x less money, and it would end in 2024.

This matters for net zero - these landscape habitats can store vast amounts of carbon (or peatlands can stop releasing carbon dioxide, which they are bcos so damaged).

BUT, this was the LEAKED DRAFT, from May.

The final Strategy read differently.

Instead, all that Govt says is that it *may not* stick to 1/3 split of total annual farming budget from 2028 onwards.

Instead, will allocate the money based on:
- farmer demand
- AND meeting net zero (+ nature) objectives

This is a minor fine tuning of how £2.1bn per year of funding will flow to new net zero farming system.

In fact the final version is such a small technical change it's remarkable it's being over-interpreted in this way.

But that's mostly bcos of LEAKED DRAFT which would have been more dramatic.

It's p'haps heartening that there was such outcry over weekend at possible loss of this funding. But the final outcome is nowhere near as bad (nor v exciting).

So to summarise there was concern that:

£700m per year from 2028 may have been swapped for £750m split over 5 years that runs out in 2024.

But this has gone from the final doc.

The reporting at weekend was concerned over wording of a sentence in a LEAKED DRAFT.

But facts on the ground matter a lot too...

...we can see that there's already *lots of* demand for restoring forests/peatlands/landscapes.

Govt has made an initial £50m available and had 51 applications, most of them from groups of farmers.

defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/2022/06/06/how…

If this trend holds, it may have no problem finding farmer demand for £750m for restoring nature across landscapes.

We'll have to wait and see.

Remember, we *can* restore these habitats without much(/any) change to UK food production.

20% of farmland produces just 3% of our calories.

So is this Strategy a radical reversal of the Govt's net zero agenda/commitment?

No.

In fact, it contains a lot to help turn farmers achieve net zero:
⚡ paying farmers to restore nature will help them prep to take advantage of new private carbon markets + additional income streams
⚡ £270m for farming innovation to help achieve net zero + grow more food
...

⚡ helping build more glasshouses that can use waste heat/renewables to heat fruit/vegetables instead of using polluting fossil gas

Instead, what we have is a Strategy that reaffirms a Govt committed to working with farmers to make food production + the countryside net zero.

/END