National Farmers’ Union

Whatʼs good for the goose?

A gander at the issues facing UK farmers

QRohit Kaushish ChiefEconomicsAdviser National Farmers’ Union Can you tell us a little about the NFU and its members? The NFU represents more than 46,000 farming and growing businesses, from small family farms to large enterprises. & Our purpose is to champion British food production, to campaign for a stable and sustainable future for British farmers and to secure the best possible deal for our members.

How many growers, livestock and mixed-holding farms in the UK are SMEs?

fertiliser, feed and energy prices soar, the situation is becoming unsustainable for many farm businesses.

What types of environmental private sector funding are most sought-after by your members?

Farmers have the potential to generate carbon, biodiversity and nutrient offsets which could attract investment from private sector businesses. This may include companies looking to use carbon offsets as part of their own net zero journeys or water companies and developers interested in nutrient or biodiversity offsetting. Such funding has the potential to support greater levels of environmental delivery on farms by providing the investment required to deliver nature-based solutions. to understand the associated risks and rewards. Many of these markets are mostly dominated by smaller scale (often pilot) projects which may not be suitable for some farming systems. There is also a lack of standardisation in carbon calculators which makes it difficult to reliably measure, report and verify levels of sequestration and emissions. Therefore, it’s hard to know whether potential private agreements will stand up to long term scientific and social scrutiny. A It is currently unclear how private sector funding will interact with the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) and if participation in private agreements may undermine farmers’ ability to engage with ELMS. Farm businesses must have confidence that any private sector funding is compatible with public sector funding, the farm’s own long-term net zero strategy and, crucially, food production. What’s next for the NFU and its members? As our members continue down the road to net zero, the NFU and farmers across the country will strive to play a central role in shaping these crucial developing markets

Almost all businesses within the farming sector are classed as SMEs, so around 152,000.

How has the shortage of lorry drivers affected your members?

The shortage of lorry drivers has been one of many issues causing disruption within the supply chain, with a recent cross-industry report showing an estimated 500,000 unfilled vacancies, from seasonal workers to processors. Alongside massive inflationary pressure as we see Stacking of public and private revenues for nature-based solutions could help improve their long-term economic viability within productive farm businesses. This could become an important farm diversification stream, helping to build the resilience of farm businesses and support the transition to net zero.

What do your members see as the barriers to accessing private sector funding?

These markets are still in the early stage of development which makes it challenging to ensure their long-term success and compatibility with the farming landscape.