Farming Roadmap 2050: what surveyors need to know

The government has published the long-awaited Farming Roadmap 2050: Growing England's Future.

It sets out a vision of what farming in England needs to look like by 2050, including the aim that the primary purpose of the farming system is to produce food and that this should be done in a profitable and competitive way. 

In addition, the system should use land and resources efficiently and protect natural systems, including ecosystems, waterways, soils and atmosphere, while remaining resilient to change. 

Importantly, the roadmap brings together the relevant parts of the government's current statutory commitments to farming relating to climate and nature, as set out in the Climate Change Act 2008 and the Environment Act 2021, alongside plans for food security, land use and farmed-animal health and welfare. 

The government has also published its response to the Farming Profitability Review, which should be read alongside the Farming Roadmap as many of the recommendations in the profitability review helped shape the roadmap. 

The roadmap is divided into themes, each covering a range of subject areas, which in turn have a series of actions that government will take. Those actions will be relevant for professionals in the rural sector and are broken down in a timeline between now and 2030, by year.

The roadmap recognises that change is needed and that ensuring national food security depends on farming businesses being profitable, productive and able to invest for the long term with confidence. 

All that starts with strong business fundamentals such as financial management, labour planning and decision-making, which evidence shows are major drivers of difference in productivity and profitability between farms. 

This theme is subdivided into the subject areas:

• food, profitability and growth
• farming productivity and innovation
• domestic and international markets, and
• agricultural skills.

The government wants a vibrant tenanted sector where farmers have the confidence, security and opportunity to invest, innovate and plan for the long term. Food production and environmental outcomes should not be dependent on owning land. 

To this end, the roadmap outlines and expands on two areas: 

• ensuring a fair and accessible legislative and policy framework, and
• making schemes work for tenant farmers.

To support farmers in upland areas, the roadmap focuses on:

• improving access to schemes and support  
• driving system change 
• targeting leverage points for change, and
• shifting narratives and culture.

The roadmap again recognises that change is needed due to the pressure that current agricultural production puts on natural resources such as soils, water, air and habitats, as well as contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. 

It acknowledges that further action is needed to reduce pollution and emissions, rebuild soil health, recover wildlife, improve resilience to climate and disease risk, and protect the natural assets and healthy livestock populations that farming relies on. 

Healthy soils are recognised as being central to productive farming and a thriving environment, and under the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) 2025, the government is committed to bringing at least 60% of agricultural soil in England into sustainable management by 2030. 

The roadmap outlines how government will encourage and support that plan. 

The other two relevant subject areas under theme 2 that have a series of action points are:  

• regulation, and
• environmental land management (ELM) schemes.

Interestingly, the government expects that private finance and markets for ecosystem services will grow, allowing investment in environmental outcomes from farming to increase over time. 

The plan is that ELM schemes will evolve to focus more exclusively on environmental public goods and to focus funding where it makes the biggest difference.

Farmers and landowners will be particularly interested in the summary of the expected evolution of ELM schemes from now until beyond 2030 (p.47). 

Subjects under this third theme include:

• tackling agricultural water pollution
• biodiversity
• air quality, and
• animal health and welfare. 

As in themes 1 and 2, the government recognises that change is needed. 

Farm businesses face growing pressure due to extreme weather, climate change and volatile market prices for inputs – mainly volatility in energy and fertiliser costs – and outputs – mainly sales of crops and livestock. 

In this regard, the roadmap acknowledges that overall sector resilience requires new approaches to mitigate new and developing risks.  

The roadmap recognises that farmers need more opportunities to generate income alongside traditional production. This is essential to improve the profitability, resilience and long-term viability of farm businesses. 

Government action is directed at growing high-integrity markets for environmental outcomes, encouraging diversification and enabling farmers to access buyers across the public and private sectors.

Relevant subject areas under theme 3 that have action points include:

• increasing farm income through land management
• climate change mitigation and adaptation
• natural flood management
• animal and plant pests and diseases
• maximising the benefits of data
• research and development, and
• service transformation.

Additionally, the government has outlined that it is collaborating with the organic sector to publish an organic action plan for England. Clear goals will support the sector's development across several themes. 

These include improving awareness and understanding of organics, supporting increased conversion to organic production and encouraging growth across the range of domestic and international markets available to organic growers. 

RICS is pleased that the roadmap has published and in particular to see the detailed actions and commitments contained in it on pp.23-25. We welcome that the roadmap has honed in on the need for farming to be profitable and productive, sustainable and resilient. 

In addition, we welcome the focus on primary food production in conjunction with a focus on the environment. However, the sector remains volatile and will need guaranteed levels of public funding if it is to evolve and meet the vision outlined.