A FARMER from north Essex is calling on MPs and the Government to back new policies to ensure nature-friendly farming in the post-Brexit world.

David Lord, an arable farmer in Clacton, is one of a number of farmers across England to back the campaign calling for a new system of agriculture payments for environmental schemes.

The Nature Friendly Farming Network hopes the system will be the bedrock of future food security.

It says previous subsidies under the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy saw payments to farmers for the amount of land owned lead to inefficiencies, waste and environmental degradation.

The network believes measures that restore and protect the natural environment are essential to long-term resilience.

Mr Lord said: “I was concerned about the future of our farm, its ability to see me through to retirement and to sustain itself for future generations.

“We’ve thought long and hard about the best direction to take, and for us, it’s been to pursue a regenerative path.

“Now our farming systems have put our business in a far better position for farm profitability, food production, biodiversity and climate.”

Farmers were hit hard in 2020 when wheat yields dropped by 40 per cent due to heavy rainfall and droughts.

Mr Lord said bold strategies are now needed to enable wide-scale adoption of nature-friendly farming and financial support to reward farmers using nature-friendly practices and to navigate spiralling costs.

The network says rising costs of ecosystem losses, such as declining soil health, are absorbed by farm businesses and result in losses to UK farmers of roughly £1.2 billion each year.

Mr Lord added: “We’ve sought to reduce our most costly and carbon-intensive inputs, such as artificial fertilisers.

“We’ve built the diversity of our rotation which has improved soil health and reduced pest pressure.

"Looking to the future, we are investigating the potential of reincorporating livestock into the system to further reduce our reliance on artificial inputs.

“With the right support, these are steps that all farmers can take.

“Without these, I fear that many farmers will be reluctant to engage in environmental schemes in a period of increased uncertainty.”