The Guardian has today published a piece claiming the government has broken its promise to English farmers by failing to spend the promised £2.4 billion a year on agriculture between 2021 and 2023.
Today's blog outlines the government and Environment Agency response to a report by the PAC on flood resilience.
At Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary, our dedicated Rural and Wildlife Crime Team, Country Watch, have been working closely with partner agencies and other local policing teams to tackle the scourge of waste crime.
Mother and son team, Tracey and Will, run a dairy and beef farm in Langley Mill, Derbyshire. In this film, they talk through the SFI actions they've included in their agreement, including herbal leys in rotational pasture, hedgerows, soils, legume mix with grasses and pest management. They describe how SFI helps them to balance the books, take care of the environment and build the resilience of their farm business.
Article written by Julie Foley, our Director of Flood Risk Strategy and Natural Adaptation, Environment Agency Surface water flooding happens when there is heavy rainfall and there is so much rainwater that it overwhelms drainage systems. Instead, rainwater collects over the ...
It's a dark, damp evening in February 2023 when staff from UK Border Force's CITES team are called to Heathrow's Animal Reception Centre to inspect a shipment of hard coral. A mismatch between the CITES permit and its packing list ...
Tenant farmers are at the heart of the rural economy, managing a third of all farmland in England. To meet our food security and environmental objectives, we must make sure that all farmers, including tenant farmers, can access our schemes and build thriving farm businesses. In this post, we'll explain how we are continuing to design our schemes with tenant farmers in mind. We'll provide an update on how we are embedding an understanding of the tenanted sector across Defra. We'll also summarise the progress we've made so far.
Today (14 January) there is coverage in the Observer of claims by campaign group River Action about the Environment Agency's regulation of poultry farms in the River Wye Catchment. River Action is quoted claiming that the Environment Agency has ...
Can you believe it's a brand-new year already? Only last month we launched our latest call for evidence on the impacts of fishing on five English offshore marine protected areas (MPAs). These are the ones designated to protect certain highly ...
Round 2 of the Slurry Infrastructure grant will close for applications on Wednesday 17 January. We're supporting many more projects than we did last year, so if you need slurry storage, now is the time to apply for a grant. In this post, I'll give you a recap of the grant and the information you need to get started.
Welcome to our first Natural England instructional Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) guest blog. Three distinguished experts share their top tips and impart their insights on designing for BNG. They are Julia Baker, Technical Director at Mott MacDonald, David Mooney, CEO ...
Last week, we published a post about the Agricultural Transition Plan update. The update includes the full range of Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) actions - new and updated - with their payment rates. In this post, we will focus on the new actions relevant to those who farm in the uplands, both moorland and non-moorland grassland.
Last week, Environment Secretary Steve Barclay gave a speech at the Oxford Farming Conference announcing the biggest upgrade to the UK farming schemes introduced by the Government since leaving the EU. (Suggested caption/introduction)
Blog on the coverage of our announcement on the biggest upgrades to UK farming schemes introduced by the Government since Britain left the EU.
MacBradan Bones is a Woodland Officer for the Forestry Commission based in the East and East Midlands Area. He shares five tips on managing your woodland this Winter.
We recently held a webinar for arable and horticulture farmers. Our aim was to go through the 2023 Sustainable Farming Incentive offer for those farm types and answer your questions. In this post, I'll share a summary of the things we covered and set out the offer for these sectors.
Today we published an update to the Agricultural Transition Plan on GOV.UK. It includes our progress, priorities and plans for the coming years. In this post, I'll share a summary of the update which includes details of scheme payment rates, premium payments, new actions and plans for a single application service.
Today we are looking at coverage following the launch of our electrical waste recycling consultation.
Agriculture is the biggest sector we regulate in terms of individual businesses, with around 100,000 premises covering 70% of the land in England. Every year, the EA works together with farmers to bring the changes and improvements which will protect our future land and resources and secure better compliance with environmental regulations.
In summer 2023, King Charles III visited a new Natural England National Nature Reserve (NNR) on the Greater Lincolnshire Coast to film for a BBC documentary to be broadcast on Boxing Day. The Lincolnshire Coronation Coast NNR was officially declared ...
We have launched two short surveys to enable stakeholders with an interest in skates and rays in the English Channel and Southern North Sea or demersal non-quota species in the Southern North Sea to give us their views on the ...
Since the River Derwent was dammed 300 years ago - at the start of the Industrial Revolution - its fish stocks dwindled. Devoid of fish since the mid-20th century, a project to open it back up to the likes of salmon began in 2013. Now, fish are flourishing along all 20 miles of the Derwent.
The Government has reaffirmed its commitment to enabling sustainable development by investing in schemes to reduce nutrient pollution in England's rivers and estuaries. Read more on GOV.UK. Natural England welcomes the announcement which provides the certainty needed for all providers ...
Andy Brown, Environment, Planning and Engagement Manager at the Environment Agency, and chair of the Love Windermere partnership, explains how new data will help tackle pollution in Windermere and protect the lake for generations to come.
What is the first animal that springs to mind when you think of a UK marine mammal? A cousin to dolphins, harbour porpoises might not have been your first answer but there are many reasons to care about these fascinating ...
