The UK was part of the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) framework for financial support to farmers and rural development funding for more than 40 years before Brexit. In 2019-20 farmers in England received over £1.8 billion in direct payment subsidies, based mainly on the amount of land farmed.
In late 2021, Defra is introducing the Environmental Land Management scheme (ELM) to replace CAP. It will focus on improving the environment by paying farmers for certain environmental benefits, instead of offering payments based on the amount of land farmed. This means the ELM scheme will interact with government’s achieving wider environmental and climate change objectives.
This inquiry builds on the Committee’s growing programme of work on public spending and the environment. Over two evidence sessions, the Committee will question representatives of farming and conservation groups, and senior officials at Defra and the Rural Payments Agency on whether the ELM is being well designed and managed to meet its objectives.
If you have evidence on these questions please submit it here by 6pm on Wednesday 13 October 2021.