The latest annual report to Parliament of the Committee on Climate Change raises a number of concerns about agricultural policy. 'The UK still lacks a targeted strategy and associated targets for ensuring agriculture remains productive as the climate changes. Indicators to track the exposure and vulnerability of the sector to climate change remain limited. New agricultural policies have been announced, but it remains to be seen how these will impact the climate resilience of agriculture.
Agricultural soils need to be in good condition to support
production, particularly under future weather extremes. Sustainable soil
management techniques on farms (e.g. reduced tillage, using cover crops and
incorporating organic matter to reduce erosion) will help deliver this.
Revisions to agriculture policy must consider and support
nature recovery and consider climate risks to delivery. Greater flexibility is
needed in the range of activities under agri-environment schemes (e.g. explicit
funds for climate-resilient actions) and more funding is needed to ensure
agriculture is resilient to climate change.
Significant gaps remain in the suite of indicators required
to measure how the productivity of the agriculture sector is changing in
relation to climate change. For instance, there is a lack of metrics to
robustly assess soil health, on-farm water storage capacity, and losses to
livestock/crops due to extreme weather events. It is therefore not possible to
conduct a robust, comprehensive assessment of changes in the vulnerability of
agricultural production to climate change since the last Progress Report.
