The Road to Rural Recovery

It’s no secret that Farmers have taken a battering over the last 5 years. From Covid, the War in Ukraine and freak weather patterns. It has never been harder to make it in the rural economy. The new government has promised support for farmers, including support for a land-use framework and cutting red tape at the border. In their manifesto, the new government also pledged to set a target for half of all public sector food purchases will be locally sourced.

The introduction of a land-use framework will see farmers and landowners be able to work alongside their local communities to build infrastructure relative to the area, be that housing, public services or even new transport routes!

The policy won praise from Dr Jason Beedell, a research director at Strutt and Parker, he said “it will give the sector much needed direction on how to balance the different things now expected from the land.”

Whether the new government can get this passed remains to be seen, there has been a framework being bandied around Westminster for decades and the previous government failed to make progress in getting it to a vote in the house.

A land-use framework would be beneficial for the government as they seek to go on their ambitious quest to build good quality houses quickly, being able to do so in conjecture with farmers/landowners would help to speed up a process that has begun to take longer than many would hope for.

Furthermore, working out new uses for land would be helpful for farmers to build solar/wind farms that they have often sought planning permission for, but have been denied. This would have the neat dual impact of helping to bring forward a carbon offset from the land as the government works towards its Net-Zero goals.

The bio-diversity benefits would also be welcomed by landholders who have often warned about the increasing threat of dead fields that will no longer be able to grow food to feed the nation. The technology advances that will be available to help revitalise the dying soil has moved on in leaps and bounds. Currently the technology can map up to 2080 in advising those who work the land about what will be suitable for planting.

Should the government get this reform through it will provide much needed relief for a sector that has suffered with so many external pressures and has been calling for a policy like this.