Dr Lydia Collas

Once again throwing out into the twitter-sphere: there hasn't been a £400m cut to the farming budget - it's pretty stable in actual terms at £2.3bn across the next 4 years - and actually the nature-friendly bit of it has gotten a massive boost

Now there's important questions on what this gets spent on. A £2.3bn budget means there's space for all the schemes, and more farmers should be able to get into schemes soon. But who, what, when are all questions defra needs a clear plan on soon!

On top, there's £400m for "additional nature schemes" which looks largely like a continuation of the Nature for Climate fund, but maybe it's a bit smaller and something else has been lumped in there? But all in all pretty positive

Actually the farming budget is broadly the same at £2.3bn for next 3 yrs. (Last year spend was more like £2.4bn but it's really rounding error territory). This is a positive outcome following environment and farming groups uniting to campaign against feared cuts

What does this mean for farmers? It's about changing the balance of land uses, not everything. Maybe a smaller herd & a larger wood. & there's profit to be had: the most profitable 1/4 of small grazing livestock farms have 30% less livestock per hectare, but 60% more profit

So this isnt just about emissions, it's about families being able to afford to feed their children a healthy diet. There's not a level playing field. Unhealthy food is constantly pushed at us in adverts & promos. That has to change for the sake of our health, and for the climate.

Dont buy the hype. Here's 3 reasons why the diet change the CCC are recommending isnt that big a deal, & a few more why it's entirely sensible for a govt wanting to grow the economy and improve public health

🚨GA event on 5th Feb "What do farmers still need from the agricultural transition?". Sign up at the link! Ft a speech from the minister Daniel Zeichner and a great panel discussion of experts and farmers eventbrite.co.uk/e/what-do-farm…

A food strategy must provide better access to healthy, affordable food, tackle the environmental impacts of production, and support farms to deliver public goods alongside food. For all of this & more, govt should look to Dimbleby's nationalfoodstrategy.org

Very exciting to hear Defra SoS Steve Reed announce today govt will produce a new food strategy. Promising to hear the level of cross-govt buy in including from PM, No 10, health, education and business. We look forward to hearing more on the timelines & the "co-created" process.

Interested in our 'Alternative proteins – what’s in it for farmers & land use?' webinar 11/09? (tinyurl.com/57je7ykj) Check out some background reading co-authored by 1 of our speakers @LydiaCollas on the opportunity of alternative proteins in Europe tinyurl.com/mszs8afz

Congratulations to @SteveReedMP on becoming the new @DefraGovUK secretary of state. We look forward to working with the department on the #EnvironmentAct targets promised in the Labour manifesto. It can be done and here’s how. 👇

“The government committed us to reduce emissions and to restore nature, and that creates this opportunity” to improve lives in rural areas, says @lydiacollas on @BBCFarmingToday. Rural seats are election battlegrounds, so politicians are taking notice. bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0…