The last time that I spoke at NFU conference was at tail-end in the wettest February record.
Two years later, this February, the Met Office named three major storms in one day for the first-time.
Storms can cause flooding as well as disruption to supply chains, power cuts, damage to buildings, trees, hedgerows, and damage to buildings.
Also, I would like to thank everyone for being here.
I know that many of your repairs will be needed, as well as preparations to handle Storm Gladys should she arrive with the same force and resources as Eunice, Dudley and Franklin.
I would also like to thank Environment Agency colleagues who worked around the clock to help communities recover and respond, as well as those working for the emergency service and local authorities, who assisted with the response.
These kinds of events are becoming more common and more severe.
More than 76,000 incidents were reported by the Environment Agency’s incident management service last year. These included flood, drought, fires and pollution incidents.
One every seven hours, 24 hours a days.
The last session today is called Building Business Resilience. Everybody in society has a shared desire to do that successfully.
As Chair of Environment Agency, I have had to meet farmers in drought who are making difficult decisions about which vegetables to grow.
I have met farmers who were forced to evacuate their livestock and fix damage to their fields and buildings due to floods.
The climate crisis has made it possible for farmers to do both in one year, and perhaps more.
The Environment Agency calls for a stronger national focus on adaptation.
Building your business resilience doesn’t just mean avoiding risks; farming is an integral part of a prosperous future.
So whether you need to recover from an excess of water, deal with water scarcity, or manage soils to create a healthy water supply, we want to work together to make the country more resilient.
Minette asked that I describe how the Environment Agency plans to work with agriculture, as a constructive partnership.
We are here to help you in any way we can with environmental improvement, flood management, or net zero ambitions.
It all starts with collaboration, clarity, and consistency, for me.
The UK was able to change laws and provide new opportunities for farmers by leaving the EU.
The much-discussed concept of public money for government goods could unlock more productive agriculture and long-term food security. It could also create viable infrastructure and thriving areas.
The Environment Agency has advocated for farmers to be paid through the Environmental Land Management Scheme if their work upstream can reduce downstream flooding.
Defra has recently asked us for our leadership in the delivery of the first round Landscape Recovery and Restoring Englands streams, rivers, as part the Environmental Land Management Scheme.
These projects will restore water bodies, rivers, and floodplains to a natural state, reduce nutrient contamination, benefit aquatic species and reduce flood risk.
This is an extension of our current role.
It extends our legal, financial and delivery responsibilities. It will also secure additional Future Farming/Countryside Project funding.
To allow the Environment Agency to assume this new role, Defra has delegated specific powers under the Agriculture Act 2020 to make and administer grants.
Farming will not be able to take advantage of the new opportunities without private investment.
We are becoming more aware of the multiple benefits that environmental services can bring to our lives.
It is up to you to monetise these items.
Many farmers are interested to be able to offer environmental services, such as carbon sequestration, nutrient reduction, or higher water retention for flood resilience.
These markets could be an important catalyst for the future of farming, but investors and farmers need to have greater certainty about the outcome and the products being sold.
This could be in the form standards.
We don’t yet have a soil carbon code, but we could benefit from other standards for natural flood management and nutrient trading.
Alternatives include green markets that are like the Wild West, where farmers don’t always draw first.
Farming is the only field where everyone, all the responsibility for meeting the many technical demands, falls on the shoulders of the individual farmers.
There is no expectation on the agricultural industry, and there are no legal obligations, to support farmers in making the best choices for the environment and themselves.
There is very little or nothing in the supply chain that would require standards or proof of farmers’ impact on the natural environment.
We believe the wider agrifood supply chains can play a role in encouraging farmers to make environmental progress.
Although some retailers supply to producer groups, they have made significant progress in areas such as animal welfare. However, there is still a lot of potential for the natural world.
The Green Finance Institute also explores the need for upfront financing to support farmers who are switching to more sustainable methods.
The Environment Agency helps the private sector understand, invest and scale up activities that simultaneously produce income and environmental improvements.
We can unlock investment for resilient food production and make sure farmers aren’t robbed by cowboys in city suits wearing welly boots.
One project we support with the Esme Fairbairn Foundation is Defra, Triodos Bank UK’s restoration of the Pennines’ peatlands.
These are the most neglected in Europe.
Moors for the Future Partnership works to conserve and restore peatland in the region, and to attract sustainable investment that will provide financial returns.
Private investors can reap the benefits of peatland restoration.
It stores carbon and filters out water, which means that water companies can use less chemical treatment.
Peaty soils are also important in reducing flood danger. Heavy rainfall and thunderstorms can cause soil erosion that makes flood risks worse.
The floodplain and low-lying areas are where the most productive and valuable agricultural land in England is located. Many of these areas are below sea level.
We published the National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy, 2020, in partnership with the NFU.
The Fens are one measure of the strategy.
It states that we will collaborate with farmers, land managers and water companies in the Fens in order to better assess risks, discover what climate adaptation means for low-lying catchments in which premium food production is dependent upon flood risk management and drainage.
We also plan on engaging major supermarkets as well as the food and beverage sector in developing strategic options to ensure sustainable food production in Fens.
This approach will help to balance decisions that need to made now and future.
The Environment Agency supports the testing of a new approach for long-term land use decisions with the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission of Devon.
This work was partially funded by a special pot of money to support flood resilience innovation.
We are exploring new ways to offer a more strategic approach for land use decision making at local authority, catchment, landscape and national levels.
It will be used to support net zero, nature recovery, ecosystems service, food production, and economic development.
The public is becoming more interested in river use for recreational purposes like kayaking and wild swimming. This is leading to greater scrutiny of the links between water quality, ecological health, and human health.
We are delivering on the demands of the public.
Following our prosecutions, the courts have fined 100,123,000 water companies for pollution incidents in the current financial year ending January 31st.
The Environment Agency and Ofwat announced in November that they would be investigating more than 2,200 sewage treatment plants across all water and sewerage companies throughout England.
I have also asked for custodial sentences to be given to directors of companies convicted of repeated, deliberate, or reckless violations of environmental laws.
Although there has been some great campaigning and awareness raising regarding the effects of water company pollution on the environment, attention is now shifting to agriculture.
Poor water quality is caused mainly by agricultural diffuse pollution.
It is the primary reason that 40 percent of water bodies fail in their quest for good ecological condition.
It is important to consider the long-term implications of organic manures.
Organic manures are good for soil health and can sequester carbon to reduce the need of inorganic fertilisers.
However, rivers are affected by their excessive use.
As new laws are created by governments, I want to ensure consistency and provide certainty as to how we will enforce them.
We want to give you the freedom to invent by focusing on what the standards are that we want to achieve, rather than a prescriptive way.
We must also be a strong regulator.
It is a triple threat when farmers violate environmental laws.
- It damages the natural resources required to grow food.
- It undermines your economic model
- It also diminishes British agriculture in the eyes of the public.
For those who continue to violate the rules, it is important that we take action.
And we do.
The Environment Agency is here to help those who want to do right.
We will assist you with any additional demand, such as pointing you in the direction of good practice or expert advice.
The Environment Agency worked hard to support the provision money for slurry storage.
We all know that many slurry stores in current times are not fit for purpose. Farmers risk being prosecuted.
We hope that this will be a significant opportunity for farmers to transform and do the right things for water quality and prevent us from having to prosecute them, which we really don’t want to do.
2017/18 saw the enactment of the water farming rules.
These regulations were made by the government and must be followed by the Environment Agency.
It was a significant change from business as usual, so we adopted an advice-led approach to working with hundreds farmers across the country to help.
Last autumn, the Environment Agency introduced a regulatory statement that allowed over 4000 farmers to spread organic material onto their land. This was in addition to the legal rights that would have been denied to them.
This flexibility cannot be offered by the Environment Agency in perpetuity. Therefore, I am happy that the Secretary of state has asked Minister Prentis for statutory guidance to clarify what is required this spring.
We must also improve communication and be clear and consistent about compliance and when it must occur.
We will collaborate with the NFU, other farming organizations, Water UK, and the government to provide clarity around the risk-based approach we will use to autumn spreading this season.
We believe there are opportunities for streamlined regulations governing agriculture and nutrient storage. This could make it easier for both you and us to understand our obligations.
Water resources are a problem.
We know that if the country continues its current operations:
- We will need an additional 3,435 million litres of water daily by 2050
- Some rivers could have 50 to 80 percent less water in the summer.
While overall irrigation demands have declined since the 1990s, spray irrigation will likely rise over the long-term, with the greatest increases occurring in eastern England.
Uncertainty exists regarding food policies, diet trends as well as the percentage of food that is wasted and how water will be used to irrigate.
I want consistency in the Environment Agency’s regulations so that farmers, water companies, and other businesses can see a reasonable, fair approach to water usage.
Recently, the national water resources plan for emerging regions was launched for consultation. This will help to show how the nation will manage its water resources in the future.
Please complete the consultation. We would love to hear from your ideas.
These plans are not the end of the story. They are the beginning of how we will act to ensure water supplies that are resilient and secure.
The pandemic has highlighted the importance of British food production, international trade and maintaining a balanced diet for all in the two years since my last appearance at the NFU conference.
By 2030, the world’s population will have reached over 8.5 million people.
Between 2010 and 2050, there will likely be a 50 percent increase in global food consumption.
This should be an opportunity to farm with strategy and a clear view.
If you do it right, it will leave a legacy that includes productive agriculture, long-term food safety, increased biodiversity, viable infrastructure, and thriving communities.
According to the NFUs Blueprint for British Farming: This is a unique opportunity to make the UK’s new domestic agriculture policy a success and ensure that everyone recognizes the immense benefits British food has to the country and its precious landscapes.
We agree, however, to deliver we must also overcome the effects of climate change and natural decline.
The Environment Agency shares the same goals as the farming sector.
To achieve these goals, we must all work together and learn from each other.
We are grateful.
