Take the vital question of soil health, a hot topic at present. Mr
Gove said that minimum or ‘no till’ approaches, which required less expenditure on inputs and, of course, kept more carbon in the soil, were both economically more efficient and environmentally progressive. However, he argued that under the CAP, farmers had been encouraged to focus on yield overall, rather than productivity specifically. This had led to decades of damage in the form of significant and destructive soil erosion, estimated in one study to cost the economy around £1.2 billion every year. The UK now had the opportunity to reverse what he described as ‘this unhappy trend’. However, moving to more sustainable and, ultimately, productive farming methods could involve transitional costs and pressures, so Mr Gove said that DEFRA planned ‘to provide new support for those who chose to farm in the most sustainable fashion’. And as well as supporting progressive and productive farming
methods Mr Gove said that he also wanted to support the provision of ‘ecosystem’ services. Building on previous countryside stewardship and agri-
environment blueprints, DEFRA would design a scheme accessible to almost any land owner or manager who wishes to enhance the natural environment by planting woodland, providing new habitats for wildlife, increasing biodiversity, contributing to improved water quality and returning cultivated land to wildflower meadows or other more natural states. Additional money would also be made available for those who wish to collaborate to secure environmental improvements collectively on a ‘landscape scale’. Enhancing the UK’s natural environment was, he said, a vital mission for the Government. It was committed to ensuring that we ‘leave the environment in a better condition than we found it’. And leaving the European Union would allow the government to deliver the policies required to deliver a ‘Green Brexit’. But vital as investment in our environment is, it is not the only
public good in which Mr Gove thought the UK should invest. He expressed the view that the UK ‘should also invest in technology and
skills alongside infrastructure, public access and rural resilience’. There was a tremendous opportunity for productivity improvement in British farms. The UK already had some of the best performing farms in the world and there was, he opined, no reason why British farmers could not ‘lead the way globally in achieving better levels of productivity through adoption of best practice and new technologies’. On technology, the UK should build on the innovations pioneered by higher education institutions by investing more in automation and machine learning, moving from the hands-free hectare to the hands-free farm, with drilling, harvesting, picking and packaging all automated, precision mapping of every inch under cultivation with targeted laser treatment of pests and weeds and highly-focussed application of any other treatment required. We should invest more in the sensor technology that can tell where, when and how livestock should be fed, housed and bred to maximise both yield and individual animal health and welfare. And we should ensure the next generation of farmers are
equipped to make the most of technological breakthroughs by better integrating the research work being undertaken by the most innovative institutions with the ongoing training that those working on the land should receive. He hoped to say more about how the UK could reform land-based education again later in the Spring. Critical to making this new investment in skills was, of course, proper infrastructure such as super-fast broadband and reliable 5-G coverage when the latter finally goes live. Mr Gove then turned to another contentious item, the question
of rights-of-way. While he said that he did not intend to address this issue at present, he did add that the more the public, and particularly school children, got to visit, understand and appreciate the British countryside, the more he believed that they ‘would appreciate, support and champion farmers’. In particular, the LEAF initiative Open Farm Sunday and other initiatives like it helped ‘reconnect urban dwellers with the earth’. More practically, they also helped secure consent for
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