CPRE has released a report calling on farmers to use the impetus of Brexit to become more diverse and environmentally resilient.

The ‘New model farming’ paper argues that a more diverse sector - in demographics, farm size and production – would forge a more resilient future that offers rewards beyond food: beautiful landscapes, clean water, abundant wildlife, better flood management and improved carbon storage.

It also argues that a post-Brexit settlement along these lines would make clearer the public benefits of huge public investment in farming.

Graeme Willis, food and farming campaigner for CPRE, who hails from Mickle Trafford in Cheshire, commented,

“The Government has a great opportunity post-Brexit to determine what farming and the English countryside will look like. Do we really want to continue the pattern of ever larger agri-business, less connected to communities and out of kilter with nature?”

“To forge a more resilient future, the Government should encourage a mix of farms that produce different foods for local people and varied, thriving landscapes. The obvious place to start is by redirecting funding to help smaller, more innovative and mixed farms, and by making land available for new farmers to enter the market.”

New model farming: resilience through diversity is the first in a series of ‘Food and Farming Foresight’ papers from CPRE, written to encourage debate about the future of farming.