2020/02/25

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Defra

https://consult.defra.gov.uk/elm/elmpolicyconsultation/

For more than forty years, the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has dictated how we farm our land. Our departure from the EU and the CAP provides us with a unique opportunity to redesign our agricultural policies to allow us to meet our environmental ambitions, while supporting our farming sector. In freeing our farmers from the CAP and moving to a new system based on ‘public money for public goods’, we will put English farmers in the best position possible to meet the objectives of protecting the environment and producing food. This document sets out the government’s initial thinking on how these objectives can be supported through the design of a new ELM scheme. We are using this document to step up engagement with all of our stakeholders, including the farmers, foresters and other land managers who look after our land, protect our beautiful environment and produce our great British food. We are committed to co-designing the ELM scheme with these stakeholders to create something that allows businesses to thrive whilst delivering environmental improvements. We are keen to avoid the mistakes of the CAP and learn from those people who know best. This document sets out our initial thinking for ELM scheme design, providing an update on progress and overview of high level design options. There are key questions in the document which we would like views and evidence on. This document is not intended to set out the detailed delivery arrangements for ELM. The responses we receive to this document will help to inform the detailed scheme design policy for both our National Pilot, which is due to start in late 2021, and for the start of the ELM scheme in 2024. We anticipate that a full consultation on the detailed scheme design with an accompanying impact assessment will be published at a later date. To support the launch of this document, we will be holding a number of interactive webinars with land managers and other stakeholders to discuss the proposals we have outlined (see next steps section). This will not be the end of our engagement; we intend to continue to work closely with our stakeholders through the Tests and Trials Programme, the National Pilot and full ELM delivery, to make sure that this is a scheme that works for farmers, foresters and other land managers on the ground.

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