Burnham announces £65million support package for farmers to manage drought pressures
In new measures, Mr Burnham says farmers must not carry the risks of the climate crisis alone
Prime minister Andy Burnham will announce £65m of funding to help farmers manage the devastating drought, as he steps up his response to the climate crisis.
Listen to this article
It comes after Burnham's own MPs and Labour’s grassroots were critical of the prime minister for not addressing the climate crisis, despite wildfires breaking out across Britain and a drought affecting food producers.
But in new measures, Mr Burnham says farmers must not carry the risks of the climate crisis alone.
Farmers across England will get £65m to help them deal with this year’s drought after warnings that many are at “breaking point”.
After weeks of bone dry conditions, many have had to harvest their crops early and are seeing low-quality produce and low yields.
The new funding is hoped to help farmers source water for crops, keep livestock fed despite dying grass, and continue environmental agreements without losing payments.
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 of funding will bring the total SFI budget to £290m, with the extra money prioritised for areas of greatest need during the drought.
Alongside these measures, the prime minister will also unveil a £15m fund to build on-farm reservoirs to provide water during dry summers in the future.
Gavin Lane, president of the Country Land and Business Association, works to provide advice to landowners and rural businesses.
Although he welcomed the deal, he added that the move was welcome but “little more than a temporary fix” and noted that the reservoir cash would fund a “fraction” of what is needed.
The extra SFI funding is expected to feed into the scheme’s second application window, due to open in September, but the government has not said where within the existing Defra farming budget the money will come from.
The announcement follows a Cobra meeting chaired by the Prime Minister this week, with a focus on the national response to the extreme heat, wildfires and drought, with the package part of a a wider cross-government effort to tackle farming, water supply and infrastructure pressures.