Opinion: Farmers showing the way on climate change mitigation

The recent progress report from the Climate Change Committee (CCC) is a stark wake-up call: the UK’s preparations for climate change are “inadequate”.

But out in the fields, farmers have been quietly getting on with turning climate resilience from policy into practice.

In the north-east Cotswolds, more than 200 farmers in our cluster are living with the consequences of a changing climate.

Floods have become routine. Villages face ever more frequent damage. Railway and electricity distribution infrastructure is increasingly vulnerable. Crops are lost, roads washed out, and insurance claims spiral.

The effects of climate breakdown are not some future threat – they are the new normal.

See also: Defra reintroduces £150m of capital grants in England

Three years ago, 47 of us along the River Evenlode came together under the Landscape Recovery pilot scheme.

We’re now 60 farms strong and managing 4,000ha with targeted natural flood management interventions: scrapes, bunds, tree planting, hedgerows – low-cost, proven tools that can reduce local flood risk by up to 50%. 

The CCC’s report notes that more than a third of railway and road miles are already at flood risk, and this will rise to about half by 2050.

We’re seeing that play out in real time on the Paddington to Hereford line, which crosses the River Evenlode 27 times.

Every time the valley floods, the embankments and rail beds are at risk, and operators face major repair costs and service disruption.

Resilience 

Working with Network Rail, we’ve been exploring how land management upstream of vulnerable stretches can absorb water, slow the flow, and keep the line operational.

This isn’t just about protecting infrastructure – it’s about smart, joined-up investment in public resilience.

But the CCC’s report confirms what we feel on the ground: national policy isn’t keeping pace.

Farmers like us are willing and able to deliver climate resilience, but the frameworks, incentives and co-ordination from central government need rapid acceleration and adoption. 

In the areas that matter most to us – food security, land use and nature recovery – the Third National Adaptation Programme falls short.

The CCC found limited or insufficient progress on climate-resilient agricultural production and nature outcomes.

More than half of England’s best farmland is already at risk of flooding, and yet there is no clear strategy linking food production, adaptation and land stewardship. 

We need government to integrate climate resilience into agricultural and environmental policy, provide long-term funding clarity, and support the kinds of low-cost, high-impact measures that farmers are already delivering.

Cost-effective solution

The irony is that farmland can be part of the solution. The government’s own analysis shows that nature-based solutions are cheaper and more effective than bolting on resilience later.

Why stockpile ballast beside rail lines when you can fund a farmer to reduce flood peak flows and dissipate the energy before it gets there?

But farmers need stability to make long-term decisions. Defra’s Environmental Land Management schemes, including Landscape Recovery, are promising – but adaptation guidance is vague and budgets uncertain.

We’re seeing more uptake now from farmers who were initially cynical. But scaling that success requires reliable income for the environmental outcomes and resilience delivered.

It’s also time for other sectors – housing, insurance, utilities, infrastructure – to step up. The burden can’t fall on farmers alone. We need working nature markets.

We need insurers, rail operators and water companies investing in risk reduction.

And while we know the government can’t foot the bill, we do need them to endorse the parameters and enable the finance for natural flood management to flow.

The CCC rightly calls for a whole-government approach, measurable targets, and serious co-ordination.

But while Westminster debates, we’re already getting on with it – one bund, one hedgerow at a time. It is time for the policy to catch up.