NFU responds to Defra’s nature security assessment – NFUonline

However, some existing and emerging technologies could provide potential solutions, the report’s writers suggest, citing examples such as plant pre-breeding and regenerative agriculture.

Vital resources

Responding to the report, NFU Deputy President David Exwood said: “Food production and environmental delivery have always gone hand in hand – we cannot have a resilient food system without healthy soils, thriving pollinators and access to clean water.

“These are vital resources and, as custodians of the land, farmers and growers have a responsibility and ambition to protect them. We now need the investment to enable it.

“Thousands of farmers are looking to the renewed Sustainable Farming Incentive to enable this work. After a stop-start approach to environmental schemes so far, farmers desperately need some certainty for the scheme this year and for the years ahead.

“With an increasingly volatile geopolitical and climactic situation, we cannot rely on imports to sustain us. Investing in our national food security has to be a priority, and that starts with investing in the land.”