CAAV expects Defra Farming Roadmap to be published in July

Defra’s long awaited 25-year farming roadmap is expected to be published this summer, almost two years after its first inception.

Jeremy Moody, secretary and adviser to the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (CAAV), told delegates at the Cereals event in Oxfordshire on 11 June that it was likely to come out in July.

See also: NFU presses Defra over stalled crops fairness review

Defra’s farming roadmap was put forward by former Defra secretary Steve Reed at the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) conference in November 2024.

He called it the “most forward-looking plan for farming” in the country’s history, focusing on making farming and food production more profitable.

Formal response

When it is delivered, the roadmap is expected to include the government’s formal response to Baroness Batters’ Farming Profitability Review.

In April, Defra minister Baroness Hayman outlined the roadmap’s main aims as maintaining food production, meeting environmental outcomes, and delivering a thriving and profitable farming sector.

Jeremy Moody © CAAV

Mr Moody said: “It is due to come next month we think.

“It is likely to say that we have more or less cracked the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and that will be stable more or less for the rest of the decade, and then there will be some broad woolly stuff about further aspirations.”

He warned that farmers were very clearly being told that in the longer term they should be running their operations as businesses, rather than looking to government for support.

“Where you take your business in the next 10-15 years is an individual decision – take advice to get a wider perspective, and from someone who can break open family conversations around succession,” added Mr Moody.

Balancing act

The Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) has also indicated that Defra intends to publish this summer, setting out its long-term plans in response to calls for greater certainty around policy, investment and the future of support schemes.

George Dunn, chief executive of the TFA, said: “It is accepted that the roadmap is going to be a balancing act between maintaining food production and farm profitability while also strengthening nature recovery, climate resilience and environmental standards.

“We need to see real commitment to predictable government policies, market development and public and private investment.”