Farmer confidence battered by climate change – new research

“Farmers are on the front line of climate change and this research reveals what impact that is having on them and their businesses. From lost crops and livestock to soil erosion, farmers are battling these impacts across more fronts than most with repeated heatwaves, droughts and periods of extreme rainfall all taking a toll on farmer confidence. 
 
“Beyond farmers, the scale of these climate impacts also calls into question the UK’s food security in the face of climate change driven extreme weather. We need to be taking these risks more seriously, with more support for farming to adapt and build resilience, as well as more urgent action to help farmers reduce their own emissions.”
 
The research comes shortly after confirmation of the billion pound hit [6] to arable farmers after last years unprecedented extreme wet winter led to one of the worst harvests in decades [7], and growing fears for this harvest [8] after the warmest and one of the driest springs on record [9]. In response to these impacts, over two thirds of farmers have changed how they farm, including what they farm, or by joining an environmental scheme and investing in diversification. Over 30% are also ‘highly concerned’ about their ability to make a living from the farm in the future due to climate change, with 50% somewhat concerned.
 
When asked about the ability of the next generation to make a living, the proportion highly concerned rises to two in five, leaving over four fifths concerned about the impact of climate change on the next generation’s ability to farm, fuelling wider worries about the future of farming following last year’s Budget.
 
Anthony Curwen, a farmer from Kent, said: “It’s getting increasingly difficult to farm given the impacts we’re now seeing with climate change. We’ve gone from drought to Biblical floods and back to drought in the space of just a few years. It’s devastating and many of us in farming now fear for a sustainable future.
 
“What we need most now from government is a bit of stability and some better support to help us become resilient to these impacts. If we want to retain a robust supply of home-grown food, we need to invest more into the soil, water and wildlife that build this resilience and bolster the fundamentals of our food security. In an era when the climate is giving us a kicking, we need government to have our back, not add to the uncertainty.”
 
The research for ECIU found that famers are willing and open to change but need better support. When asked whether addressing the risk of climate change was a priority, even if it entailed changing what and how we farm in the UK and what food we eat, over half of farmers agreed, with just under a third disagreeing. 60% of farmers would consider creating habitats such as wildflower margins, in addition to those habitats they are already delivering, with a quarter open to tree planting and a fifth happy to consider woodland creation.
 
But many see the need for better policies to support farmers to adapt to these impacts, with two thirds citing the need for better farmgate prices to reduce financial stress and create more headroom for environmental work, and nearly 60% identifying the need for more long-term certainty in the design of green farming schemes across the UK. These results echo current moves by the UK government to improve farm profitability [10] and recent disruption to the flagship environmental farming scheme in England, the Sustainable Farming Incentive [11].