Environmental groups are urging the new Labour government to 'significantly' increase the agricultural budget to meet nature and climate goals.

The RSPB, National Trust, and Wildlife Trusts contend that raising investment in nature-friendly farming to £5.9b annually across the UK is 'essential' to achieve these targets.

Beyond environmental objectives, the three charities stated this would also ‘improve the resilience’ of the UK farming industry.

They argue that investing in nature restoration is a ‘necessary, long-term strategy’ that will future-proof UK farming while mitigating climate change.

Currently, the annual agricultural budget stands at £3.5b, unchanged since 2013, with approximately 20-25% allocated to agri-environment schemes.

The charities also emphasised that environmental schemes must be implemented at ‘sufficient scale to meet the challenges ahead.’

Moreover, they claim that every pound of public money spent on nature restoration would yield at least three times that investment in returns.

The three organizations stated: “Climate change and nature loss are the two biggest threats to UK food security and we are already seeing their impacts on food production, including the impact of the incredibly wet year to date.

"We are urging the new UK government and devolved governments to urgently rise to this challenge with more ambitious funding models for nature-friendly farming.

"Farmers must be rewarded for helping nature to recover and tackling climate change, as well as producing food. These issues are deeply interlinked."

Farmers across the UK are already dealing with the worsening impacts of changing weather patterns, with drought and flooding affecting food production.

Martin Lines, CEO of the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN), said the groups' new ask should be a wake-up call for decision-makers across the UK.

He remarked: "We have already seen the impact a wet winter and widespread flooding has had this year, and we know we can expect much more weather-related volatility in the future.

“As the new government starts work, we need to see increased ambition for the farming budget and rapid scheme progress so the farming community can swiftly transition to nature-friendly farming at the scale required.”

While increased public funding is deemed necessary, the groups also stressed the need to unlock more private investment in environmentally friendly farming.