Farming in Protected Landscapes programme extended for three more years
Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds MP has announced the extension of the successful Farming in Protected Landscapes programme for a further three years.
In an address to the Oxford Farming Conference, the environment secretary Emma Reynolds MP has announced an extension to the Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) programme including £30 million in funding for 2026/27 to support farmers in enhancing nature recovery, tackling climate change and preserving cultural heritage across England's 44 National Landscapes and National Parks.
Since its launch, the programme has supported more than 11,000 farmers across 44 protected landscapes in enhancing nature recovery, tackling climate change, and preserving cultural heritage, including the planting of 362km of new hedgerows, equivalent to the distance of Oxford to Newcastle.
This morning, we published our latest joint report on FiPL with National Parks England, highlighting some of the thousands of projects funded through the programme so far and demonstrating the impact this innovative approach is having across National Landscapes and National Parks throughout England.
In this report we recommended:
- Extension of the FiPL programme beyond March 2026 so it becomes a mainstreamed part of Defra’s Farming and Countryside Programme, supporting the delivery of the national targets set out in the Environmental Improvement Plan, in addition to 30by30 and the Protected Landscapes Targets and Outcomes Framework.
- Embedding FiPL within Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS)
- Embedding permanent roles for land management advice in all Protected Landscape organisations, which will support farmers and land managers to take up future funding efficiently, and with enhanced environmental outcomes.
- Implementation of the learnings from those successful larger scale FiPL projects so that they become models for the delivery of nature-based farming and land management across the UK.
The report includes seven case studies from the thousands of FiPL projects, each highlighting how FiPL is delivering against four themes:
- Helping to tackle the impacts of climate change.
- Helping nature recovery.
- Providing opportunities for people to discover, enjoy and understand the landscape and its cultural heritage.
- Protecting or improving the quality and character of a place.
