The influential Committee on Climate Change has reported the Government has “no coherent strategy to ensure that agriculture remains productive as the climate changes”.

In a scathing progress report on the Government’s plans to tackle climate change, the committee stated that the “Government’s plans to deal with climate change impacts are insufficient in critical areas, such as the natural environment, health and business”.

The committee recommends that within 18 months farmers should be rewarded for soil and water conservation, habitat protection and natural flood management. It also stated that future farm rules should “incentivise the take up of low-carbon farming practices and the transition to alternative uses of land to reduce emissions and increase removals”.

The report concluded that tree planting needs to more than double to “at least 30,000ha/year across the UK.”