Research and analysis

Farming Sector Environmental Objectives: summary

Published 22 October 2026

Applies to England

The prolonged maintenance of England’s natural assets ensures the future food production and cleaner environment that society depends on. In 2025, utilised agricultural area accounted for 69% of total area in the UK, highlighting the pivotal role that the farming sector has in maintaining our environment through effective management of land, livestock and agricultural practices.

Following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU), Defra has reformed agricultural policy in England away from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy. The Environment Act was established to set long-term environmental targets for the government, with strategies such as the Environmental Improvement Plan laying out Defra’s ambition.

The Agricultural Transition Plan introduced the Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes as a means to pay farmers for measures that benefit nature alongside food production. These schemes provide a suite of actions to make food producing businesses more resilient and generate additional income while improving water quality, climate emissions and biodiversity in line with the government’s environmental targets.

ELM is part of a wider suite of agri-environment schemes offered by Defra, with other schemes supporting priorities such as improving animal health and welfare, and research and innovation. Collectively, these schemes help to support a sustainable and innovative farming sector in England. A full list of grants and other funding available for farmers, growers and land managers can be found here.

Together, these policies and schemes form part of a broader framework for delivering environmental and climate outcomes. The environmental objectives have been developed to provide a consistent basis for assessing the extent to which farming interventions support these outcomes and contribute towards wider government ambitions.

1. Farming strategy and statutory targets

Farming has an important role to play in delivering the government’s environmental and climate ambitions. As a major land use sector, farming influences a wide range of outcomes, including biodiversity, water quality, soil health, greenhouse gas emissions and resilience to climate change. Government support and policy interventions are therefore designed to encourage farming practices that help achieve these wider public objectives, while maintaining a productive and economically sustainable farming sector.

The strategic direction for these interventions is shaped by a range of targets, strategies and delivery plans that define the outcomes government is seeking to achieve and the role of farming in contributing to them.

1.1 Farming Roadmap 2050

The Farming Roadmap 2050 outlines the pathway to a farming sector that is resilient, productive, profitable and sustainable. The document condenses government commitments and strategies relevant to farming, providing a direction for the sector to achieve environmental, economic and productivity outcomes. The roadmap does not, however, provide delivery plans or milestones through to 2050 for achieving these outcomes.

As defined in the roadmap, a sustainable farming sector includes more land managed for the environment, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and increased species abundance, which are monitored and reported through the environmental objectives.

1.2 Climate Change Act 2008

The Climate Change Act 2008 provides the legislative framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the UK. It sets legally binding emissions reduction targets and requires government to establish carbon budgets and report on progress towards achieving them, supporting a long-term and coordinated approach to climate change mitigation.

The Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan sets out ambition levels for measures under the agriculture and land use, land use change and forestry sectors.

The UK government produced the Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan, which sets out how it intends to meet its legally binding carbon budgets under the Climate Change Act 2008. It brings together policies and proposals across sectors such as energy, transport, buildings, industry and agriculture to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while supporting economic growth, energy security and job creation. Specific measures under agriculture and land use, land use change and forestry sectors set ambition levels for outcomes within the farming sector.

1.3 Environment Act 2021

The Environment Act 2021 provides the statutory framework for improving and protecting the environment in England. It establishes legally binding long-term targets in priority areas including air quality, water, biodiversity, resource efficiency and waste reduction, and requires government to set interim targets and regularly report on progress. The Act is intended to drive sustained environmental improvement over the long term and provides a mechanism for holding government accountable for delivering its environmental ambitions.

1.4 Environmental Improvement Plan 2025

The Environmental Improvement Plan 2025 (EIP25) is the UK government’s long-term plan to improve the natural environment in England. It builds on the 25 Year Environment Plan and EIP 2023.

EIP25 is structured around 10 goals and is supported by statutory targets, delivery plans, progress reports and an evaluation framework.

To ensure progress, the Environment Act requires that each statutory target has at least one interim target set in the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) which covers the 5 years from publication of the latest revision of the EIP. These interim targets are not legally binding but must: be achievable; make an appropriate contribution to the statutory target; and be objectively measurable.

Interim targets were originally set in the EIP published in 2023 (EIP23). The interim targets were updated to cover the 5 years from publication of the revised EIP in 2025 (to 2030).

2. Purpose of the environmental objectives

The environmental objectives provide a structured framework for monitoring and reporting how activity within the farming sector contributes to statutory targets. They translate high‑level ambitions into measurable objectives, enabling consistent tracking of progress and transparent reporting over time.

The environmental objectives set out in this report currently comprise 14 objectives designed to monitor the farming sector’s contribution to environmental outcomes over time, delivered through agri-environment schemes. These objectives underpin statutory monitoring cycles and are reviewed annually to reflect changes in target delivery plans, policy developments, and the evolving evidence base.

The environmental objectives:

• measure environmental outcomes associated with Defra’s interventions in the farming sector and should not be interpreted as covering all agricultural activity in England.

• enable clear monitoring of progress towards environmental targets while providing a framework to assess the contribution of agricultural grants to environmental outcomes.

• are used for assessing agri-environment scheme contributions and decision-making in policy design

• provide a framework to develop a robust reporting process in line with internal monitoring and evaluation strategy

Agri-environment scheme delivery can be used as a leading indicator of progress towards statutory environmental targets. However, targets may be framed in terms of either outputs or outcomes. Output objectives focus on the delivery of actions or interventions, while outcome objectives focus on the environmental changes those actions are intended to achieve. Internal analysis has estimated the scale of agri-environment scheme delivery required to achieve the environmental outcomes set by outcome-based targets, establishing the level of uptake needed to meet statutory requirements.

2.1 Scope and limitations

The environmental objectives set out the level of uptake required to contribute to statutory targets, based on the latest internal Defra analysis. These objectives do not constitute a forecast of, or commitment to, achieving this level of uptake and should not be interpreted as such.

Throughout this document, the term “farming sector and delivery partners” refers to farmers, growers and land managers receiving support through agri-environment schemes. These groups are the primary delivery agents for many environmental interventions and are therefore central to achieving the environmental outcomes and targets that underpin the objectives set out below.

Similarly, environmental objectives within the farming sector that have currently not been subject to the SMART framework, including topics such as threatened species and water storage, are also not currently included within the environmental objectives.

It is important to note, however, that the environmental objectives do not report directly on progress towards Environment Act 2021 or Environmental Improvement Plan 2025 targets. The delivery plans, progress reports and wider EIP reporting can be found here.

2.2 SMART framework

The environmental objectives are designed using the SMART framework, meaning objectives are designed to be:

• specific: clearly defines what the objective is intended to achieve

• measurable: can be tracked and assessed using agreed measures

• achievable: realistic within available delivery mechanisms and constraints

• relevant: aligned with wider statutory targets and commitments

• time‑bound: includes a defined timeframe for delivery

The SMART format is used across government for decision-making and project management. Using this framework, the environmental objectives aim to provide clear, monitorable outcomes that support effective delivery of environmental targets within the farming sector.

3. Publication structure

The publication is structured around the environmental objectives and their role in supporting environmental outcomes. It first explains how the objectives relate to statutory and interim targets, before summarising the reporting status of each objective.

The remainder of the publication is organised into individual objective pages, which present an overview of the objective, relevant targets, methodology, contributing actions, key assumptions and delivery trajectory where developmental status allows.

4. Future development

The environmental objectives are intended to provide a flexible framework that can adapt to changes in policy, delivery and the evidence base. As understanding of environmental outcomes improves and scheme delivery matures, the objectives may be updated to reflect new priorities, emerging evidence and lessons learned from implementation.

Annual reviews within Defra will review underpinning assumptions, scheme data, and incorporate new evidence on the effectiveness of existing schemes. The objectives and their delivery pathways will be updated where there are significant changes to policy, data, or the delivery landscape, including the introduction of new schemes and policies.

The ELM schemes, namely Countryside Stewardship and Sustainable Farming Incentive, represent the primary measurable lever under current methodologies. Wider agri-environment schemes will be assessed for contributions towards environmental objectives for inclusion in reporting.

New environmental objectives may also be developed to reflect emerging priorities or areas where improved definition and measurement of existing objectives become possible. This will allow the framework to respond to changes in policy, delivery and scientific understanding, while incorporating new evidence and improving the ability to assess environmental outcomes and impacts over time.