Stephen Morgan MP, Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs, has welcomed the publishing of the Government’s Farming Roadmap, “Farming 2050: Growing England’s Future”, which sets a clear direction for a profitable, productive, sustainable and resilient farming sector through to 2050.
This marks a decisive break from decades of short-term, year-to-year policymaking. For the first time, farming is being backed by a clear long-term plan that looks beyond the next harvest to the future of the sector.
This roadmap is intended to bring together existing strategies affecting farming into one framework, aligning policies on land use, environment, climate, animal health and food into one coherent approach.
The roadmap sets out how government will support the sector, and what it expects from farmers and the wider supply chain, providing a shared plan for delivery. This roadmap also makes an explicit commitment, for the first time, that domestic food production will be maintained at least at current levels in England. This will be achieved through targeted land use change, protecting the most productive land for food.
The plan is structured around three outcomes:
- Profitable and productive farm businesses
- Environmental and sectoral sustainability
- Resilient farm businesses
Commenting, Stephen Morgan, MP for Portsmouth South and Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs, said:
“The Government’s new farming roadmap is breaking from the status-quo by setting out, for the first time, a clear long-term plan for farming through to 2050, giving the sector greater stability and confidence to plan ahead.
“In the conversations that I have had with farmers, a common theme keeps coming up: uncertainty. Whether it’s changing schemes, rising input costs, or simply not knowing what the long-term direction is, it’s made planning ahead much harder than it should be.
“In response, making sure farm businesses are profitable, supporting sustainable ways of working the land, and helping farms stay resilient in the face of rising costs and global pressures. As Farming Minister, I look forward to collaborating with the sector to see this roadmap through.”
Alongside the roadmap, the Government has published its response to Baroness Minette Batters’ independent Farming Profitability Review, including a £123 million investment in innovation this year to help farmers harness new technology and improve productivity.
