Alongside the Farming Roadmap 2050: Growing England's Future, we have published our response to the Farming Profitability Review (FPR), an independent review led by farmer and former NFU President, Baroness Minette Batters.
Commissioned in April 2025, the review looked at how government and industry could work together to improve the profitability, resilience and long-term sustainability of farm businesses. Published in December 2025, the review made 57 recommendations.
Our response sets out how these recommendations will be taken forward alongside the Food Strategy, the Land Use Framework and the Farming Roadmap.
Most of Baroness Batters’ recommendations are already underway or will be implemented in the near future.
In this post, we give an overview of our response.
Growing markets and embedding partnerships
A central part of the response is the newly established Farming and Food Partnership Board, which brings together representatives from farming, food production, retail, finance and government.
It will also oversee work to develop Sector Growth Plans and explore ways to attract more investment into farming businesses.
Trade and exports are also addressed in the response. We’re currently agreeing a new deal with the EU to make it easier to trade and move plants, animals, food and related products between the UK and EU.
We recently published guidance to help businesses understand what these changes could mean in practice and the steps they may need to take to prepare.
Additionally, Defra’s network of agri-food attachés is helping UK farmers and food producers get their products onto international shelves and grow their businesses overseas.
Establishing fairer supply chains
The response points to action already underway to improve transparency and fairness across agricultural supply chains.
New Fair Dealings regulations have been introduced for the dairy and pig sectors, designed to give producers greater certainty and protection in their dealings with buyers.
Work is now beginning on similar legislation for egg producers, while further engagement continues with the fresh produce and combinable crops sectors.
Alongside this, we will continue working to improve the availability of market information and support fairer value sharing across the supply chain.
Removing barriers and enabling infrastructure
The response highlights the role that planning, regulation and infrastructure play in supporting profitable farm businesses.
We’re committed to tackling practical barriers that can make it more difficult for farmers to invest, adapt and grow their businesses.
This includes proposed reforms to the planning system aimed at making it easier to invest in modern food production infrastructure.
We will remove Biodiversity Net Gain requirements for smaller agricultural developments.
Alongside this, we’re looking at ways to simplify and improve regulation affecting farm businesses.
The response also highlights the importance of reliable energy, connectivity and water management in helping farm businesses operate efficiently and build resilience for the future.
Tax incentives and grant schemes
The response brings together a range of funding commitments and support schemes designed to help farm businesses invest, collaborate and plan for the future.
£345 million in grants for equipment, technology and research projects, as well as investment of at least £300 million in Natural Flood Management will be available between 2026 and 2036.
Environmental land management schemes continue to play a role in supporting business resilience.
The response references the new Sustainable Farming Incentive offer for 2026, increased payment rates for several upland and moorland actions, and ongoing investment through Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier and Landscape Recovery.
Work will continue to support investment and long-term business planning across the sector.
Developing people and skills
The response focuses on supporting the people who work in farming and creating the conditions for future generations to enter the industry.
On labour, seasonal worker allocations for the next planting year will be confirmed later this summer. This follows the decision to extend the Seasonal Worker visa route until at least 2030, something many horticulture businesses had been calling for to improve confidence when planning future production.
The importance of skills development, knowledge sharing and collaboration to help businesses improve productivity and adapt to future challenges is also highlighted.
Alongside this, work continues across education, training and careers initiatives to help attract and develop the next generation of farmers and land managers.
A new £30 million Farmer Collaboration Fund will support groups of farmers to work together, share knowledge and develop their businesses.
Research, innovation and technical support
Investment in innovation remains a major part of our approach to improving profitability.
At the NFU Conference earlier this year, we announced £70 million for the Farming Innovation Programme. Today, an additional £53 million for projects, including those involving robotics, soil and water technology was announced.
This means that farmers and agri-tech businesses will benefit from a total of £123 million of investment in agricultural innovation across the 2026/2027 financial year.
Innovation funding will help accelerate the adoption of new technologies and support more productive, resilient farm businesses.
Alongside research funding, the response highlights ongoing work to improve access to technical advice and support for farmers adopting new tools, techniques and practices.
Valuing nature and environmental outcomes
The response also highlights the role of private investment in supporting farm profitability and environmental outcomes.
We want to create the conditions for environmental markets to grow by improving confidence, consistency and transparency. This is intended to help farmers attract investment and generate income from delivering environmental outcomes alongside food production.
The response recognises the role that environmental land management schemes and natural capital markets can play in supporting both farm businesses and the long-term resilience of the natural environment.
We are establishing a dedicated task-and-finish group to work with industry partners to unlock greater private sector investment in sustainable farming.
In addition to this, we will work with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to review how the economic contribution of farming is measured, including considering approaches used in other countries.
This will explore whether additional statistics could provide a more complete picture of the value generated across the food supply chain – from agricultural production through to processing, manufacturing , distribution and retail – alongside primary agricultural production.
Subscribe
For the latest updates from the Farming and Countryside team, subscribe to the Farming Blog.
By subscribing, you'll receive an email whenever we publish a new post.
Leave a comment