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Agriculture: Floods

Asked by Tim FarronLiberal DemocratDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled Answered 13 November 2025UIN 88225

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure farmers receive support for instances of flooding in winter 2025-26.

Answered by Emma Hardy

To support rural communities and farmers, we:

  • are funding actions to improve the environment, mitigate flood risk, and boost resilience such as natural flood management, through the Environmental Land Management schemes.
  • are investing over £300 million in natural flood management under the Government’s new flood investment programme, the highest figure to date for the floods programme.
  • have provided £91 million in funding to internal drainage boards , supporting greater flood resilience for farmers and rural communities already benefiting over 400,000 hectares of farmland and over 200,000 properties, and will avoid around £10 billion of economic damage.
  • have established the Rural Flood Resilience Partnership, a collaboration with the Environment Agency and rural stakeholders to support agricultural businesses in adapting to increase their resilience to flood risks.
  • have introduced the Flood Resilience Taskforce, where the NFU has a seat at the table, which will enhance coordination between central Government local authorities, local communities and emergency services to better protect communities across the UK.

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