Environment Secretary George Eustice has confirmed that the UK will join the Sustainable Productivity Growth Coalition (SPG), an international group of countries, trade bodies, and academic and research organisations, that aims to improve agricultural productivity in an environmentally sustainable way.
“I am pleased to announce today that the UK will join the Sustainable Productivity Growth Coalition convened by the United States,” he said yesterday (Thursday, June 24).
“I look forward to working with our international partners in this dialogue on innovation, science and sustainable agriculture.”
The SPG Coalition, which was launched in 2021 at the United Nations’ (UN) Food Systems Summit, includes, among other countries, the US; EU; Australia; Brazil; Canada; New Zealand; and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
It is also supported by a raft of academic institutions and trade bodies representing industries including grain, dairy and livestock from all over the world.
Members of the coalition share with each other information about best practice, lessons learned and innovative evidence-based ways to boost productivity in a sustainable way, and promote them at public events and on public platforms.
It is voluntary and non-binding, and there is no financial commitment or funding obligation associated with joining.
Sustainable farming
Since the UK left the EU, a large focus has been moving towards a more sustainable farming system. Speaking yesterday at Groundswell, the farmer-led show and conference, Eustice reminded attendees that the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is set to open soon.
“We’re about to launch the Sustainable Farming Incentive in a few days’ time, on June 30,” he said.
The SFI is the UK’s post-Brexit answer to the European Common Agricultural Policy’s (CAP’s) Basic Payments Scheme (BPS); it focusses on soil health.
The SFI aligns with Eustice and the government’s overall aim for agriculture which is to achieve – in Eustice’s words – a future generation of farmers who “feel the satisfaction of seeing nature return to their land; seeing the health of their soils improve – and their profitability improve with it”.
