Extract 1: Agricultural Productivity and Soil Health

Government spending on environmental land management schemes has risen significantly to encourage sustainable farming. State intervention to address the market failure arising from the overconsumption of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, which dominate the agricultural sector in the free market, is seen as vital for meeting biodiversity and water quality targets. Despite various agricultural transition grants totaling over £850 million in 2022/23, the data in Fig. 1.1 shows that synthetic chemical fertilizers remain the primary nutrient source for arable land.

Fig. 1.1: UK agricultural land holdings by primary nutrient source, 2023