Energy & Environment

Working together to shut down waste criminals

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.

Updated: Wed Jan 17 2024

Watch: future-proofing our farming business with SFI

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.

Updated: Tue Jan 16 2024

Bolder leadership for surface water flooding

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 ...

Updated: Mon Jan 15 2024

Supporting the tenanted sector in England

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.

Updated: Mon Jan 15 2024

Slurry Infrastructure grant: last chance to apply

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.

Updated: Fri Jan 12 2024

New and improved actions for upland farmers

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.

Updated: Thu Jan 11 2024

Natural England welcomes Oxford Farming Conference Announcements

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)

Updated: Wed Jan 10 2024

Arable and Horticulture webinar follow up

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.

Updated: Thu Jan 04 2024

Environmental land management in 2024: details of actions and payments

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.

Updated: Thu Jan 04 2024

Working with farmers to protect our future land

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.

Updated: Thu Dec 28 2023

King's Lincolnshire coast visit to feature in Boxing Day documentary

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 ...

Updated: Fri Dec 22 2023

Celebrating a Decade's Work Returning Fish to the River Derwent.

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.

Updated: Wed Dec 20 2023

Natural England welcomes Government's commitment to Nutrient Mitigation

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 ...

Updated: Wed Dec 20 2023

Our hidden marine mammals - the harbour porpoise

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 ...

Updated: Wed Dec 20 2023

Wigan Greenheart Landscape Recovery: an industrial past and a thriving future

The Wigan Greenheart Landscape Recovery project covers a combined area of approximately 1,446 hectares in Lancashire. In this post, project manager Tony Da Silva shares an overview of the site, its history and the project team's ambition to support a thriving natural environment in which people, wildlife and agriculture can flourish.

Updated: Tue Dec 19 2023

Environment Agency bathing waters storm overflow data

The Environment Agency has analysed Event Duration Monitoring data on storm overflows associated with bathing waters across England for 2023. This data, provided to the EA following the end of the bathing water season (May to September inclusive), is a ...

Updated: Mon Dec 18 2023