Andrew's insight into The King’s Speech, new deal for farmers and Scotland’s Agriculture Bill

In my view, these are the three most significant developments over the past month for farms and estates:?

1. The new government starts work?
2. A new deal for farmers, but is it achievable??
3. A significant milestone in Scotland’s agricultural transition?

?Read on to find out my thoughts on these topics…?

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The new government starts work?

After the Labour government entered office, changes were rapidly made; within four days, the "de facto ban" on onshore wind turbines was swept away through revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework. Within two weeks, the King’s Speech set out a legislative agenda to implement the Labour Party’s manifesto commitments. Bills focused on planning, water regulation, energy, renters' rights, and devolution will follow.?

For me, one of the biggest challenges for the new government is reconciling its determination to push ahead with housing development and infrastructure schemes with its commitment that “food security is national security”. There is obvious competition for land, and compared to the previous government the new government has a stronger ambition to enhance food security rather than just maintain it. To underline this, the role of “farming minister” held by Daniel Zeichner is now officially known as the Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs. While Mary Creagh is the Minister for Nature and has responsibility for planning and the land use framework, the latter is where the answer to reconciling land use pressures ought to lie. Please see our briefing note for a complete overview of the King’s Speech and its implications for the rural sector.?

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A new deal for farmers

Plans for the Environmental Land Management (ELM) family of schemes are turning out as we expected. Daniel Zeichner, has confirmed that the government will focus on restoring stability and confidence for farmers. So, it is fully committed to the schemes and will not be ‘overturning the apple cart’. This will be a relief to farmers and probably the civil service too.?

This message has been reinforced by Environment Secretary Steve Reed, who announced a new deal for farmers to boost Britain’s food security and drive rural economic growth. It includes optimising England’s ELM schemes to produce the right outcomes for all farmers while ‘delivering food security and nature recovery in a just and equitable way’. He emphasised ensuring that small, grassland, upland and tenanted farms are catered for, acknowledging weaknesses in the ELM offering that has been developed so far.?

The deal also includes using the government’s purchasing power to back British produce, which follows a manifesto commitment for half of all food purchased across the public sector to be locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards. It also contains a commitment to protect farmers from being undercut by imports produced to lower standards and lower welfare standards in trade deals. This pledge will clearly be popular with farmers. However, I'm sceptical that this can be achieved because World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules only allow trade barriers that can be scientifically backed up on food safety grounds. There are some exceptions, such as the ban on hormone-treated beef, which remains in place because the complainant nations were appeased with a low tariff on non-hormone-treated beef. It seems unlikely this approach could be repeated on a larger scale targeting “production systems”, so it suggests some high-level WTO negotiations would be required to comprehensively implement the government’s commitment. There may be more leeway within specific trade deals but it is likely to need tariff cuts to encourage goods produced to higher standards and would have a limited impact unless all our existing trade deals are renegotiated.?

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A significant milestone in Scotland’s agricultural transition?

The Scottish Government’s vision for Scotland’s agricultural industry is for it to become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture. To achieve this, it needs to transform how it supports farming and food production to incentivise changes in the practices used on many farms. Its Agricultural Reform Route Map sets out plans for the transition, which recently took a significant step forward as the Agriculture and Communities (Scotland) Bill 2024 completed its final stage in the Scottish Parliament. Like the Agriculture Act in England, this legislation allows the legacy Common Agricultural Policy schemes to be replaced and gives ministers the powers they need to shape the industry’s future. It has set the objectives for agricultural policy as follows:?

• the adoption and use of sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices?

• the production of high-quality food?

• the promotion and support of agricultural practices that protect and improve animal health and welfare?

• the facilitation of on-farm nature restoration, climate mitigation and adaptation?

• enabling rural communities to thrive.?

Whilst the final details of support schemes will take time to emerge, the objectives are now set in stone. This means farmers and land managers can begin to consider and plan how they can adapt their farming practices, land use, and business strategy to align with the vision of a more sustainable industry while ensuring their business continues to thrive. For a summary of the Bill, see our briefing note.?

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Summing up…?

So far, it appears the new government means relative stability for agricultural schemes in England; however, development is being accelerated, so the need for answers to the land use questions that arise has grown. Due to devolution there are fewer consequences of a change of UK government for Scotland and Wales. Instead, both nations have been pushing ahead with their agricultural transition plans.

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AUTHOR: Andrew Teanby

ABOUT: Andrew is an Associate Director in the Rural Research team at Savills offering insight and advice on agricultural, environmental, rural property and land use issues across the UK. His responsibilities include rural policy analysis and market intelligence covering the UK farmland market. Outside of work, Andrew runs an arable farm in Lincolnshire.

This newsletter is for general information only and should not be considered professional advice. Savills accepts no liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect or consequential loss arising from the use of, reference to or reliance on, this newsletter or its content.