UK govt doubles investment into farming productivity schemes

The UK government has announced a range of new measures aimed at boosting the productivity and resilience of the farming sector. The announcement came on Tuesday, February 20.

These measures include doubling investment in productivity, like the Improving Farming Productivity grant, which provides support for farmers to invest in automation and robotics.

The government’s investment is set to include the largest ever grant offer for farmers in the coming financial year, expected to total £427 million.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also announced a new annual UK-wide Food Security Index to capture and present data monitoring levels of food security.

He announced that the Farm to Fork Summit will be held annually and that £15 million will be allocated to help tackle food waste by enabling farmers to redistribute surplus food that cannot be used commercially at the farm gate.