Dear Constituent,
Thank you for your email about factory farming.
I note your concerns about pollution and the environmental impact of farming.
The last Government was committed to minimising pollution from all types of farming, including production systems where animals are housed indoors for some or all of the year and which accumulate manures and slurries.
There are several different farming systems within the UK, and farms of all sizes have a role to play in promoting sustainable UK agriculture. All farms must comply with comprehensive UK law on animal health and welfare, planning, veterinary medicines and environmental legislation. This includes the Nitrates and Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil regulations, which require manure produced in livestock housing (including slurry) to be stored responsibly and for a long enough time to ensure it is spread in a way that minimises water pollution. Furthermore, the Farming Rules for Water and Nitrates regulations require these manures to be spread according to appropriate volumes, locations and timescales to minimise pollution
Through the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), farmers have been paid to manage pollution, such as building new farming infrastructure to reduce soil erosion or expand their slurry store. Disappointingly, on 11 March, the Government announced the closure of SFI applications. While the Government has attempted to justify this by claiming the scheme has ‘reached its completion', it in fact represents an outright assault on the countryside.
In January 2026, the Government announced that the earliest the scheme will reopen to applications is June 2026 for small farms and those not in any other ELM scheme. There will then be a second application round opening in September 2026 for all farms. The eligibility criteria for the government’s new SFI scheme are still to be published, meaning farms are still unable to plan.
The Government does not understand that farms are businesses, and they cannot wait around for delays. They need long-term certainty to plan. My colleagues and I will be pressing Ministers to act with the urgency this issue requires.
Thank you again for writing to me.
Sincerely,
