With no Defra Secretary, Thérèse Coffey, in attendance, it was left to farming minister Mark Spencer to kick off the UK policy session, where he announced more money for farmers and landowners through both the Countryside Stewardship (CS) and the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) schemes.

He told conference that farmers in England could expect to receive up to a further £1000 per year for taking nature-friendly action through the SFI – those with a CS agreement, will see an average increase of 10% to payment rates, covering ongoing activities such as habitat management, improving drainage and maintaining peatland habitats.

“Making a shift towards a more resilient food system is critical to feeding a growing nation, to halt the decline of nature and reach net zero, and fundamentally improving lives of people in this country and across the world,” said Mr Spencer.

“In other words, we need to keep everyone fed and save the planet at the same time, and those are two sides of the same coin in my book. I want us to be free of the legacy of the CAP for good.

"We need to learn from the past and focus on helping to build resilient and sustainable businesses which enhance the environment at the same time,” he argued.

Labour’s shadow minister for farming, food, fisheries and rural affairs, Daniel Zeichner, criticised the government’s ‘low uptake’ of the SFI, following leaked figures earlier in the week which revealed that just 224 farmers in England were paid under the government’s SFI, last year – equating to 0.2% of the 102,000 farmers who received basic payments.

“Only time will tell if this is going to be enough to encourage farmers to participate as the figures so far are disappointing, only a couple of thousand applying for the SFI last year and only a few hundred payments made,” said Mr Zeichner.

“It does beg the question of how many are really likely to participate and I’m not sure an extra £1000 is going to be a deal breaker.”

On day two of the conference, delegates had the opportunity to hear from Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands, Mairi Gougeon, who was unable to attend in person, but sent a pre-recorded message touching on efforts being made in Scotland to build resilience into local food systems.

“Scaling local food economies is crucial, given the interconnected challenges that we are facing,” said Ms Gougeon. “It is now more important than ever to concentrate on the things that matter to our communities and farming and food production plays such an integral role in not only providing sustenance, but also fostering that sense of community, heritage and well-being.”

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She explained Scotland’s commitment to becoming a 'good food nation' and changes in the law which now place duties on Scottish ministers, local authorities and health boards to produce policy plans in relation to food.

“We recognise the importance of local food economies in a resilient food system, have consulted on local food strategy and will continue to work to connect people with local food, connect Scottish producers with local buyers and really harness the power of public sector procurement.”

She detailed a commitment to empowering small scale producers to contribute to local supply chains, through actions such as rolling out a smallholder’s support pilot and highlighted plans to build the capacity and resilience of the farming sector, in particular through supporting more women in to leadership roles.