Did the Spending Review 2025 deliver for farmers, the environment, nature, food and health?

Discussion around the Government’s Spending Review was hard to miss this week. In an ‘age of insecurity’, it’s clear why Government departments were fighting hard to protect, if not increase, their budgets. However, recent reporting around potentially significant cuts to the Defra budgets placed farming and food organisations on high alert: What would further cuts mean for a sector already facing deep uncertainties?  

My colleague, Oona Buttafoco and I, have evaluated yesterday’s announcements and ranked the government’s commitments with our sustainability and health scorecard. 

Nature-Friendly Farming 

RANK: 6/10 - ‘AT RISK more support required’ 

The farming and nature settlement will have been hard won by Defra ministers. While the budget has been largely protected (see our partner, Sustain’s analysis of this here), as called for by a substantial cross-section of the farming sector, there are elements of it that still amount to real-term cuts. Economic analysis by nature-friendly farming groups demonstrated that the Government will struggle to meet its environmental and climate targets without additional funding.  

Given the scale of the challenge, it is more critical than ever that spending is targeted at the areas that deliver the most transformational change, for farmers of all sizes and types, for a healthier, more sustainable society.  

Investing in the right actions in the right places: We need to see continued farm support payments for regenerating soils, targeting the most effective actions. Soils are the renewable energy of the food system, and building soil fertility allows farmers to reduce their dependency on harmful chemical inputs. In doing so, the foundations for a nature-friendly farming transition are built from the ground up. More investment in agroforestry will play a critical role in building farm resilience and national food security by helping farmers build resilience in the face of climate change. Finally, we have been clear that more certainty on the next iteration of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is urgently needed to ensure that farmers can deliver on all of the above while continuing to be profitable and resilient.  

Creating the conditions for private investment: As the Government makes challenging decisions around the distribution of public funding, it will need to create the right conditions for private financing to further support farmers to produce food and deliver public goods. It is vital that farmers are given the support and tools necessary to benchmark and monitor environmental outcomes on their farms.

Soil Association Exchange has demonstrated the significant benefits of helping farmers to understand the impact of their practices on the land they farm and nature, and enabled them to make the changes necessary to advance sustainability and profitability.

Incentivising systems-thinking approaches: Farming is more than economic viability, and the Government needs to better integrate systems-thinking in its future decisions. Whole farm approaches, support for small farms, investment in farmer-led innovation and peer-to-peer learning, and connecting farming policy with other strategic frameworks like an integrated Nitrogen Strategy, Food Strategy and Land Use Framework will be vital to future-proof the farming sector.   

Organic market and farmland 

The Government needs to support farmers who are doing the most to improve the environment and give animals the highest standards of welfare. Following the sudden and unexpected closure of the SFI in March 2025, the Soil Association started engagement with the UK Government and relevant stakeholders to highlight the impact of the closure on the organic sector. For the first time in 30 years, there is no support for land being entered into organic conversion -  farmers are already turning away from the prospect of transitioning to organic.  

The success of the organic sector is a crucial component of a nature-friendly farming transition. Organic farming has well-evidenced benefits for nature and is increasingly popular with consumers seeking healthy, nutritious food. Demand for organic products has grown at record rates for 13 consecutive years, up 7.3% in 2024.  

However, domestic production lags behind, with only 3% of UK farmland being organic. Farmers need support in the two-year conversion to organic farming, during which farmers must adhere to full organic standards but cannot yet market their products as such. Without immediate action, we will become increasingly reliant on imports. 

Support organic conversions: In light of this serious and ongoing situation, The Soil Association has been actively advocating for the urgent reinstatement of support for the increasing number of farmers converting to organic farming, as well as organic maintenance payments.  

Organic is very well suited to a reformed approach to Environmental Land Management as a standards-based approach that depends on a whole farm plan for organic management. The Government must develop an effective solution, at a modest cost within the budget, that will ensure that it delivers on its targets and farmers can transition to meet long-term organic market demand. 

Healthy and Sustainable Food

Rank: 8.5/10 - 'A significant milestone - welcome progress' 

School meals: The Spending Review brought welcome progress on child health and food access. Following last week’s announcement on the expansion of Free School Meals, the government is committing £410 million per year by 2028-29 to extend FSM to every child whose family receives Universal Credit – around 500,000 children.  

An additional £80 million will support early years and post-16 settings with the expansion, alongside further development of primary school breakfast clubs. However, we must ensure this is fully funded and not coming at the expense of other parts of school budgets. 

On health, the government is replacing the Household Support Fund with a new £1 billion-a-year Crisis and Resilience Fund, offering greater certainty for local authorities to support vulnerable families, especially during school holidays.  

Healthy Start Scheme: The Spending Review also reaffirmed the value of the Healthy Start scheme, which helps low-income families access fruit, vegetables, milk, and infant formula during early childhood. While there were no details on changes to the scheme, the broader increase in health investment is a key opportunity to drive improvements. Notably, the NHS real-term day-to-day spending budget will rise by an average of 3% per year, reaching £226 billion by 2029, signalling a broader commitment to strengthening health services and giving all children the best start in life. 

National Food Strategy: These commitments mark important steps towards delivering the ambitions of the National Food Strategy – supporting children’s health, reducing food insecurity, and creating a more resilient, sustainable food system; but to truly align with the strategy’s vision, further action is needed to embed environmental standards in public procurement and ensure increased access to nutritious, sustainably sourced food for all.