Farmers must not carry the risks of the climate crisis alone, Andy Burnham has said, as he announced £65m of funding to help them manage the devastating drought.
The prime minister is stepping up his response to the immediate climate crisis after facing a backlash from his own MPs and Labour’s grassroots for not addressing the climate crisis despite wildfires tearing through Britain and a drought affecting food producers. Labour MPs argued Burnham had taken too long to talk about the climate crisis and had not made it a priority.
Some farmers have had to harvest their crops early, while others are seeing low-quality produce and low yields. Most of the £65m will go to the sustainable farming incentive (SFI), which pays farmers in England to support nature. Officials have said this extra £50m will bring the total SFI budget to £290m, with extra money prioritised for areas of greatest need during the drought.
Burnham chaired a Cobra meeting on extreme heat, wildfires and drought this week. Downing Street is seeking to establish a cross-government response to the drought, bringing together action on farming, water and infrastructure, including more flexibility for food producers. Farmers who are paid to look after nature on parts of their land and are usually barred from cutting or grazing it until later in the year are now able to do so where grass is scarce, without losing payments.
Farmers will also get £15m in support for building on-farm reservoirs to provide supplies during future dry summers. However, campaigners have warned this £15m is reallocated money from existing funds and will only fund a “fraction” of reservoirs needed. They will get improved access to water through simpler arrangements around how much they can take from the environment and changes to the speed at which licences are given, making it easier for farmers to use water where it is most needed.
Burnham is to visit a farm in the south-west of England on Saturday and is expected to say: “I am meeting with farmers here in the south-west who brought in the earliest harvest of their working lives and watched the yield come in well down on what it should be. Lower income, higher costs and no rain in the forecast. I understand the worry that comes with that.
“The ability to grow our own food is national security and I will treat it that way. So we are acting now: more money into farm support, help to get reservoirs built and easier access to water when it is scarce.
“This is the third drought in five years. Farmers are at the sharp end of a changing climate and they should not be carrying that risk alone.”
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As MPs urged Burnham to speed up the rate at which new reservoirs are built, given five have “exceptionally low” levels at present, officials announced their support of nine new reservoirs being developed.
Speaking after visiting the scene of a fire in Stourbridge in the West Midlands on Friday, Burnham said: “We have to face up to the changing climate. I think we need a different debate about that. There’s no point denying where we are. We need to face up to it. We need more clean energy. We need to see that transition accelerate. Those are all of the issues that are right now in discussion.
“But the Cobra meeting earlier this week, I think, has enabled us to mobilise resources today to individuals, to communities, and to our fire and rescue services, and we’re very, very grateful to them.”
Gavin Lane, the president of the Country Land and Business Association, said: “This is a welcome and pragmatic move but little more than a temporary fix.
“The announcement that government will make it easier to build on-farm reservoirs is a positive step, but the £15m made available will fund a fraction of the reservoirs we need. This needs to become a sustained programme, with planning and abstraction lined up in support.
“The vast bulk of the cost of building on-farm reservoirs will still fall on farmers, who are already facing record costs as well as absorbing new tax burdens.”
