My Lords, I declare my agricultural interests as detailed in the register. I am speaking to two amendments in my name, both of which received support from across the House in Committee, and both of which relate to the period before the introduction of the environmental land management schemes.
The first is Amendment 38. I have never been a particular proponent of organic farming, but we should all be worried that the area of land farmed organically in the United Kingdom is down by over one-third in the last 10 years. In this same period, it is up by two-thirds or more in most other European countries. Our performance in this respect puts us in the same league as countries such as Bangladesh, Mali, Saudi Arabia and Syria, to mention just a few. Only 2.7% of our land is farmed organically. Surely a Government who are committed to improving the environment should be prepared to expend taxpayers’ money to encourage farmers to convert to organic systems.
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The Minister kindly wrote to me a few weeks ago about this matter, but he said that only £6 million in total has been paid to farmers over the four years since 2016 to convert to organic systems. This is a very small amount in the context of the total support payments to agriculture. We know that the new environmental land management schemes will not begin until 2024. We also know that about £150 million will be saved in 2021 out of the current basic payment system. Would it not be an eye-catching move if this Minister and this department doubled the conversion payments to organic farming just for the years until the introduction of the ELMS? To double a payment of only £2 million a year does not seem unreasonable.
Ministers well understand that during the conversion period of three years a farm’s income is reduced and the costs increase. Yet, the farmer is not paid the premium price for organic product until the end of the conversion period. The policy of conversion payments already exists. It requires the Treasury only to increase temporarily the payments. I believe that reducing the use of pesticides, herbicides and other agrichemicals would be an enormous public good. Surely anyone who watched David Attenborough’s film on Sunday would agree that increasing the land in England farmed organically would be another small step towards helping biodiversity in this country.
My second amendment, Amendment 39, seeks to protect our small hill farms by exempting those in less-favoured areas from the automatic 5% cut in their basic payment next year. These small upland farms are
already more than 100% dependent on the basic payment to earn a modest living. The Secretary of State for Food and Rural Affairs declared last week on Radio 4 that no deal with the EU and a 40% tariff on beef and lamb exports to Europe would be a good outcome. Let us hope that a deal can be reached.
Nevertheless, it is proposed to cut the incomes of these small livestock farmers, many of whom will not be able to join other support schemes in the years between now and the introduction of the ELMS in 2024. The Government’s own figures show that livestock farmers in the uplands have a net income considerably less than the basic payment they receive, so a cut of 5% in the basic payment may well be a cut of nearer 10% in their net income.
I very much hope that the Minister will be able to accept my first amendment to help to improve the environment and my second to help to preserve our increasingly marginal small hill farms. I may wish to press these amendments to a vote, depending on the Minister’s response.