Policy paper

Multi annual financial assistance plan for the plan period 2021 to 2027

Published 30 November 2020

Presented to Parliament pursuant to Clause 4 of the Agriculture Act 2020.

Overview

To meet the requirements of section 4 of the Agriculture Act 2020 this plan:

  • specifies a plan period
  • sets out the government’s strategic priorities for giving financial assistance under the Agriculture Act 2020 for the plan period
  • describes each financial assistance scheme that will be in operation or is expected to be in operation during the plan period

If the strategic priorities for giving financial assistance change or any of the information included in this plan ceases to be accurate the plan will be amended to reflect the changes.

This plan covers the period 2021 to 2027.

This plan is supported by a complementary document the Agricultural Transition Plan. The Agricultural Transition Plan provides more detail on the agricultural transition including further policy detail about the schemes that will be available to farmers and land managers.

Strategic objectives for the plan period

As described in the Agricultural Transition Plan, by 2028, we want to see:

  • a thriving agricultural sector, producing healthy food for consumption at home and abroad, where farms can be profitable and economically sustainable without subsidy
  • farming and the countryside contributing even more than they do now to environmental, biodiversity and climate change goals

We have the following strategic priorities for the use of the financial assistance powers contained within Part 1 of the Agriculture Act 2020:

  1. encourage increased sustainable productivity in the agricultural sector
  2. significantly contribute to meeting the goals set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan
  3. contribute to meeting the UK’s net zero carbon emissions goal by 2050
  4. protecting and improving health and welfare of livestock

Schemes under Section 1

This section lists all the schemes that will be in operation or are expected to be in operation during the plan period and make use of the powers in Section 1 of the Agriculture Act 2020. Further detail about the details of these policies is included in the Agricultural Transition Plan.

  • Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship
  • Environmental Land Management Pilot
  • Environmental Land Management: Sustainable Farming Incentive
  • Environmental Land Management: Local Nature Recovery
  • Environmental Land Management: Landscape Recovery
  • Tree health pilots
  • Tree health scheme
  • Farming investment fund
  • Animal Health and Welfare Pathway
  • New Entrants investment support scheme
  • Slurry Investment Scheme
  • Farm Resilience