Climate Change Committee report sparks warning that UK is ill-prepared for future flooding
The NFU is calling on the government to prioritise investment in water management in the upcoming Spending Review, following the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) stark warning that over half of England’s top quality agricultural land is at risk of flooding.
In its latest adaptation progress report, the CCC concluded that the UK is not appropriately prepared for greater and more regular weather extremes, which is likely to put both homegrown food production and the UK’s biodiversity at risk.
The National Audit Office Resilience to Flooding report identified a continuous shortfall in Environment Agency flooding maintenance funding, and rural areas felt the devastating impact of this throughout 2024 as farmers were hit by relentless rain in one of the wettest years on record.
According to the NFU, even now many farms affected are still trying to recover from the damage to their land and their businesses.
The union is asking the Chancellor Rachel Reeves to establish a long-term investment plan to improve the UK’s failing flooding infrastructure, with funding allocations which recognise rural needs.
NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “The impact of climate change is clear for all to see. Last year, we experienced one of the most challenging growing seasons in living memory with thousands of acres of farmland under water early in the year.
“Even now, more than 12 months on and during the warmest week of the year so far, farm businesses are still working to recover.
“Not only does flooding cause significant damage to people’s properties and livelihoods, it also puts the UK’s food production at risk…
“Recovering from flood damage comes at a huge cost to the taxpayer. Climate extremes are not going away and we need to be investing in the maintenance and expansion of our flooding defences now to minimise damage in the future.”
In the previous government’s response to the CCC’s 2023 report, it focused on the Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes as the key way to mitigate flood risk for farm businesses.
However, with the sudden closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive earlier this year due to budget limitations, which shut off access to the scheme for thousands of businesses overnight, the NFU is highlighting critical gaps in government policy and funding which urgently need addressing.
Bradshaw said: “This is a clear example of where policies and budgets need to be much more joined up, something the CCC also highlights in its report. In 2023 the government said the best way farmers could adapt their businesses to a changing climate was through the SFI scheme, but then this year it shut up shop.
“Everything comes back to sufficient funding. We need an agricultural budget which allows more farm businesses to take these important measures through the SFI, and a nationwide flooding investment plan, which recognises rural needs, to make the UK more resilient to any extreme weather that comes come our way.”
