Written questions by Morello.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help farmers adopt soil management practices that enhance moisture retention during hot and dry conditions.

Healthy soils have improved resilience to extreme weather, and soil moisture is an important factor in soil health. Our Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes include actions that support healthy soil. This includes payments for actions to improve soil health, including herbal leys and multi-species cover crops. In the October 2024 budget, we committed £5 billion for farming over two years, including £1.8 billion for our ELM schemes - the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history. We now have more than half of farmers in an ELM scheme, enabling us to boost Britain’s food security while accelerating the transition to a more resilient and sustainable farming sector.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of available agricultural labour on agricultural productivity.

We recognise that it is vital that the agricultural sector have the labour they need to harvest great British produce and grow their businesses. For this reason, Defra regularly monitors agricultural labour numbers, with the most recent assessment for 1 June 2024 being published here on 15 December 2024. To help support the sector, Defra and Home Office have agreed to a 5-year extension to the Seasonal Worker visa route. This will give farms a pipeline of workers and certainty to grow their businesses. However, we remain firmly committed to reduce our reliance on overseas labour. Annual quota reviews will ensure we strike the right balance – supporting farms while gradually reducing visa numbers as we develop innovative and Agri-tech solutions.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of recent trends in veterinary service costs on farm veterinary insurance premiums over the last five years.

Insurance providers are private businesses and are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are therefore not able to provide further information on this matter.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has commissioned research into developing cereal crop varieties more resilient to prolonged periods of drought.

Defra’s flagship crop breeding programme, the crop Genetic Improvement Networks (GINs), funds research to develop crop varieties that are more productive; sustainable; and have greater resilience against a changing climate, including drought tolerance. The latest investment in this research programme - £15 million over 5 years - covers five crop types, including wheat. The GINs have already successfully identified genetic traits to improve resilience to climate change and common pests and diseases; and the programme is working closely with breeders to incorporate these traits into elite UK crop varieties. On 25 February the legislation needed to implement the Precision Breeding Act for plants in England was laid in Parliament and through a new Farming Innovation Programme thematic competition, we have announced £12.5 million to help deliver the practical benefits of precision breeding technology to farmers. This will help transform the plant breeding sector, including potentially supporting more drought resilient cereals.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to promote the distribution of cost-effective technological innovations to the farming community in West Dorset.

We are committed to supporting technological innovation on farm so all farming sectors can maximise their levels of productivity whilst increasing their sustainability and resilience. As announced at the NFU Conference, the next window of the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) will launch in Spring 2025. This will support uptake of innovative technology and equipment that is commercially available. The scheme will be open to farmers across England and a list of eligible equipment will be published within the scheme guidance ahead of its launch. The Farming Innovation Programme funds research across a range of technologies in agriculture including precision agriculture. Almost £150 million has been committed to projects of which over £84 million has been committed to small businesses. From later in the year a further £63 million will be available in innovation grants under the Programme to support research and innovation, technology and equipment for farmers. We are looking carefully at how to position further investment and support to enable the delivery of this Government's objectives as part of the forthcoming Spending Review.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help encourage the adoption of forward contracts between dairy producers and processors.

Farmers should always receive a fair price for their products, and the Government is committed to tackling unfairness in the supply chain wherever it exists. Central to this is the Government’s commitment to improving contractual practices across the agriculture industry, using the Fair Dealings powers in the Agriculture Act 2020 to increase transparency and protect farmers from unfair practices. The Fair Dealing Obligations (Milk) Regulations 2024, which came into force last year, introduced key reforms. These include mandatory written contracts outlining key terms such as termination conditions and agreed supply volumes. They also require greater transparency in milk pricing and establish robust dispute resolution procedures, strengthening trust and cooperation between buyers and sellers. The regulations are enforced by the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator, who can investigate complaints from farmers who believe they have not been provided with a contract that is compliant with the Regulations, on behalf of the Secretary of State. We will continue to monitor the dairy industry to ensure these reforms deliver their intended impact, including through a future review of the effectiveness of the dairy regulations.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure dairy farmers receive a fair price for their milk, in the context of recent trends in production prices.

Farmers should always receive a fair price for their products, and the Government is committed to tackling unfairness in the supply chain wherever it exists. Central to this is the Government’s commitment to improving contractual practices across the agriculture industry, using the Fair Dealings powers in the Agriculture Act 2020 to increase transparency and protect farmers from unfair practices. The Fair Dealing Obligations (Milk) Regulations 2024, which came into force last year, introduced key reforms. These include mandatory written contracts outlining key terms such as termination conditions and agreed supply volumes. They also require greater transparency in milk pricing and establish robust dispute resolution procedures, strengthening trust and cooperation between buyers and sellers. The regulations are enforced by the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator, who can investigate complaints from farmers who believe they have not been provided with a contract that is compliant with the Regulations, on behalf of the Secretary of State. We will continue to monitor the dairy industry to ensure these reforms deliver their intended impact, including through a future review of the effectiveness of the dairy regulations.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to help promote integrated supply chains within the dairy industry.

Farmers should always receive a fair price for their products, and the Government is committed to tackling unfairness in the supply chain wherever it exists. Central to this is the Government’s commitment to improving contractual practices across the agriculture industry, using the Fair Dealings powers in the Agriculture Act 2020 to increase transparency and protect farmers from unfair practices. The Fair Dealing Obligations (Milk) Regulations 2024, which came into force last year, introduced key reforms. These include mandatory written contracts outlining key terms such as termination conditions and agreed supply volumes. They also require greater transparency in milk pricing and establish robust dispute resolution procedures, strengthening trust and cooperation between buyers and sellers. The regulations are enforced by the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator, who can investigate complaints from farmers who believe they have not been provided with a contract that is compliant with the Regulations, on behalf of the Secretary of State. We will continue to monitor the dairy industry to ensure these reforms deliver their intended impact, including through a future review of the effectiveness of the dairy regulations.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support the implementation of nature-based solutions to help reduce flooding risks along the River Frome.

The Environment Agency (EA) is committed to supporting Natural Flood Management (NFM) measures across the West Dorset constituency. NFM comprises of using natural processes to reduce the risk of flooding, often to slow and store water. The EA is currently supporting, (via the Water Environment Improvement Fund), a Dorset Wildlife Trust flagship project, Frome Headwaters. This project has a multi-beneficial focus including enhanced water quality monitoring, stakeholder engagement and project development and delivery with a focus on working with natural processes to reduce sediment input and improve habitat that will also reduce flood risk. The EA has previously funded projects on the River Hooke upstream of Maiden Newton and will continue to explore NFM options with partners and communities across the area.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle the recent decline in the number of agricultural workers.

We recognise that it is vital that the agricultural sector have the labour they need to harvest great British produce and grow their businesses. For this reason, Defra regularly monitors agricultural labour numbers, with the most recent assessment for 1 June 2024 being published here on 15 December 2024. To help support the sector, Defra and Home Office have agreed to a 5-year extension to the Seasonal Worker visa route. This will give farms a pipeline of workers and certainty to grow their businesses. However, we remain firmly committed to reduce our reliance on overseas labour. Annual quota reviews will ensure we strike the right balance – supporting farms while gradually reducing visa numbers as we develop innovative and Agri-tech solutions.

Food and Rural Affairs, what support is available to farmers for implementing water-efficient irrigation systems.

We are committed to supporting all farming sectors to increase levels of productivity whilst increasing their sustainability and resilience. We are looking carefully at how to position further investment and support to enable the delivery of this Government's objectives, including on water management. We plan to simplify and rationalise our grant funding, ensuring that grants deliver the most benefit for food security and nature. The forthcoming round of the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund, to launch in Spring 2025, will support the uptake of innovative technology and equipment that is commercially available. The scheme has historically offered grants for water management equipment and will be open to farmers across England. The full list of eligible equipment will be published within the scheme guidance ahead of the scheme launch. We will confirm any further future grant rounds in due course following the forthcoming Spending Review.

Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance his Department issues to farmers on steps to mitigate risks associated with smart meter failures.

We are not aware of any particular problems with the reliability of smart meters on farms, nor of them impacting the operation of automatic livestock feeders. Any customer experiencing issues with their smart meter should contact their energy supplier for further guidance. Smart meters enable accurate billing by automatically recording consumers’ energy use in every half-hour period, allowing suppliers to bill based on consumers’ actual rather than estimated usage. They are replacing analogue gas and electricity meters as part of the national infrastructure upgrade needed to achieve the Government’s mission to build a flexible and decarbonised power system by 2030.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the reliability of smart meters on farms, in the context of their impact on the operation of automatic livestock feeders.

We are not aware of any particular problems with the reliability of smart meters on farms, nor of them impacting the operation of automatic livestock feeders. Any customer experiencing issues with their smart meter should contact their energy supplier for further guidance. Smart meters enable accurate billing by automatically recording consumers’ energy use in every half-hour period, allowing suppliers to bill based on consumers’ actual rather than estimated usage. They are replacing analogue gas and electricity meters as part of the national infrastructure upgrade needed to achieve the Government’s mission to build a flexible and decarbonised power system by 2030.

Food and Rural Affairs, what initiatives are in place to support farmers in reducing nutrient run-off into waterways to protect aquatic ecosystems.

The levels of pollution in our waterways are unacceptable. We are working with farmers through a suite of measures to reduce agricultural pollution and protect our waters. We regulate the agricultural activities that could cause environmental harms and require farmers to take steps to reduce and prevent diffuse pollution. The EA have checked compliance against the Reduction and Prevention of Agricultural Pollution (England) Regulations 2018. All the actions the EA requires from farmers will result in a reduction of diffuse pollution, through run-off or leaching, whether this is from investment in slurry storage to regulating herd density in a nitrate vulnerable zone. The Catchment Sensitive Farming programme provides farmers one-to-one advice about how to produce food in a way that protects water and the wider environment. The EA’s advice led regulatory approach has produced excellent results, however regulatory powers are used when required. Where farmers want to go further, Environmental Land Management schemes pay them for the delivery of environmental benefits that include activities to improve water quality.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to facilitate access to low-interest loans for agribusinesses investing in sustainable technologies.

Previous support has been offered primarily in the form of grants. For example, the Farming Equipment & Technology Fund (FETF) has helped ensure technologies supporting both productivity and sustainability can be adopted by UK farmers. We are looking to explore alternative means to improve access to finance for both the development and adoption of new agri-technologies, including opportunities to collaborate with public finance institutions.

Food and Rural Affairs, what funding is available for farmers to implement (a) buffer zones and (b) other measures aimed at preventing agricultural pollutants from entering rivers.

Levels of water pollution are unacceptable, and water pollution is a crime. We are working with farmers through a suite of measures to reduce agricultural pollution. Defra’s Environmental Land Management schemes pay farmers for the delivery of environmental benefits, including improved water quality. The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) pays farmers for actions that will improve the water environment by reducing runoff and erosion, maintaining soil cover and creating buffer strips and margins. There are 35,000 active SFI agreements in England. Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) pays farmers, land managers and foresters for more locally-targeted actions relating to specific locations, features and habitats. In December we published details of the improved CSHT offer, which includes several new actions to improve water quality. We will be opening up CSHT for new applications in the summer.

Food and Rural Affairs, what financial support schemes are available to assist small and medium-sized agribusinesses in expanding their operations.

Defra has committed £1.8 billion, the largest figure ever, to Environmental Land Management schemes in 2025/26, including the Sustainable Farming Incentive. These schemes offer funding streams for farmers who have been often ignored such as small, grassland, upland and tenanted, whilst improving our natural environment, and supporting sustainable growth and resilient food production. We are on track to spend that money. Defra also supports agri-tech innovation and almost £150 million has been committed to projects to date, of which over £84 million has been committed to small businesses. The Accelerating Development of Practices and Technologies Fund (ADOPT), launching this spring, will also provide innovation grants for farmers and farm businesses to trial and demonstrate new technology, which will help to create demand to support agri-businesses to expand. We are also looking to explore other means to improve access to finance to drive agribusiness development, including opportunities to collaborate with public finance institutions.

Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made on the (a) development and (b) deployment of vaccines for bovine diseases in the last 12 months.

Defra continues to invest in bovine disease research, and we continue to monitor the current situation and vaccine usage both in Europe and globally for both exotic and endemic diseases. Defra, in conjunction with the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), will continue to monitor the development and availability of vaccines for their utility in preventing and responding to disease outbreaks as they are put forward for market authorisation by vaccine manufacturers. To support this work Defra has established cross-Government and industry taskforces focusing on avian influenza and bluetongue. The avian influenza vaccination taskforce published an initial statement on 7 March 2025 and will publish their report this summer. While the avian influenza vaccination taskforce focus is on poultry, they are also alert to the ongoing outbreak in cattle in the USA of influenza of avian origin. The Government maintains a vaccine bank for foot and mouth disease and lumpy skin disease, exotic diseases affecting cattle. Defra has also engaged with manufacturers on supply of vaccines to the UK market for bluetongue virus serotype 3 (BTV-3) and epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV). Following this engagement, and assessment of vaccines by the VMD, Defra’s Secretary of State permitted the use of three unauthorised BTV-3 vaccines for use in England since September 2024, giving keepers the choice to protect their animals. A cattle vaccine for bovine TB is in development. The CattleBCG vaccine, when coupled with the new Detect Infected amongst Vaccinated Animals (DIVA) skin test, represents a significant advancement in bovine TB control for cattle herds. Field trials began in June 2021 and are on-going. An injectable BCG vaccine for badgers has been licensed since 2010 and is proven to significantly reduce the risk of infection and spread of bovine TB within badger populations. The number of badgers vaccinated continues to rise in England, with preliminary figures suggesting around 4,000 were vaccinated in 2024. This is the highest number ever vaccinated in England in a single year, exceeding the record set in 2023. In August 2024, the government announced steps to continue increasing vaccination deployment and to analyse the effect of badger vaccination on the incidence of TB in cattle. This includes establishing a new Badger Vaccinator Field Force.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he has taken with Cabinet colleagues to support farmers' mental health.

At the budget we committed £5 billion to farming over the next two years which will see the biggest ever budget for sustainable food production and nature recovery in our country’s history. We also committed £60 million through the Farming Recovery Fund to support farmers affected by unprecedented extreme wet weather last winter. More specifically, Defra has set up a dedicated team to look at the particular set of issues driving poor mental health outcomes in the farming and agricultural sector. We will be working in consultation with communities, farming support organisations and experts across the Government to review how we can best support those experiencing poor mental health. Furthermore, the Government is building a national network of Young Futures hubs, which will be present in every community and will deliver support for young people facing mental health challenges. Finally, the Government is giving mental health the same attention and focus as physical health through measures such as employing 8,500 new mental health support workers. This will reduce delays and provide faster treatment closer to people’s homes.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) existing and (b) the creation of new local abattoirs.

The Government firmly believes that food security is national security and is committed to maintaining a resilient food supply chain. Defra recognises the vital contribution a thriving abattoir network plays in achieving this goal. We remain committed to working with abattoirs of all sizes across the UK’s meat processing sector in tackling the challenges and opportunities they face.