Opinion: Food production and environment go hand in hand

British farmers grow and rear some of the best produce in the world, as well as playing an important role as custodians of our countryside, and I am determined to help unleash their potential as we leave behind the red tape and bureaucracy of the CAP years.

Our new environment secretary, Ranil Jayawardena, has set out our priorities: the environment, food and growth. Farmers and growers are absolutely central to all three.

See also: NFU leaders defend environmental record and climate ambition

In the coming weeks, we will have more to say about our plans, but let me make one thing clear.

Despite lots of incorrect speculation, I can assure you we are continuing to introduce new environmental schemes to support our farmers, both in producing high-quality food and as custodians of the environment.

For example, our new Sustainable Farming Incentive launched in June. This has received more than one thousand applications already and the first payments were made to farmers this week.

Elsewhere, our Countryside Stewardship scheme, which provides funding to farmers to support work to restore wildlife habitats and create woodlands, saw a 40% increase in applications last year.

It is clear we are committed to halting the decline of nature by 2030 and will not undermine our obligations to the environment in pursuit of growth.

Opportunities 

But there are also opportunities we must seize to help increase food production and food security.

For instance, we only produce 25% of the cucumbers and 17% of the tomatoes supplied domestically – but, with the right investment in modern glasshouses, we can change that.

This week we kicked off efforts to boost horticulture in Britain by starting a process to bring in expert advice from the sector to advise Defra, writing to all the major controlled-environment growers to see how we can help these businesses grow, as well as match-funding £12.5m of robotics and automation projects with great potential.

This is on top of more than £70m allocated so far in industry-led research and development through the Farming Innovation Programme.

Agriculture is a key part of the rural economy, making up 14% of employment and 30% of businesses in rural upland areas.

By increasing productivity, we can support a higher wage rural economy, and in turn drive growth in rural areas.

I believe that, ultimately, the environment, farming and economic growth go hand in hand, and I will continue to support our farmers to produce high-quality food and enhance our natural environment.