London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Prince Charles: small-scale family farms must be at heart of sustainable future

Prince Charles: small-scale family farms must be at heart of sustainable future

Exclusive: ‘Rapid transition to regenerative farming’ needed, says prince, as data reveals 100,000 UK farms lost since 1990

The Prince of Wales has called for small family farmers in the UK and across the world to come together in a cooperative movement using sustainable farming methods, and for their plight to be at the centre of environmental action.

Small farmers, in the UK and EU, are facing their biggest upheavals in more than a generation, with the loss of farm subsidies and new post-Brexit trade deals in the UK, and sweeping reforms to the EU’s common agricultural policy to be announced this week in Brussels.

Writing for the Guardian, Prince Charles has urged small farmers to band together to cope with the coming shocks and shift to a low-carbon economy: “There are small farms the world over which could come together in a global cooperative committed to producing food based on high environmental standards … With the skills of ethical entrepreneurs and a determination from the farmers to make it work, I would like to think it could provide a very real and hopeful future.”

Farming is undergoing a “massive transition”, and the needs of family farmers must be taken into account, the prince said.

“To me, it is essential the contribution of the small-scale family farmer is properly recognised – they must be a key part in any fair, inclusive, equitable and just transition to a sustainable future. To do this, we must ensure that Britain’s family farmers have the tools and the confidence to meet the rapid transition to regenerative farming systems that our planet demands,” he said.

Analysis of farming data for the Guardian has shown that small farmers were already facing an increasingly difficult future, before the shocks of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic. The EU has lost vast numbers of livestock farms in particular, with 3.4m gone between 2005 and 2016, the latest year for which full data was available.

At the same time, the number of livestock on farms has increased on average, a clear sign of intensification in the sector.

John and Mary Atkinson on their small-scale farm in Nibthwaite Grange, the Lake District, an area where many farming families have been forced to leave.


In the UK, a quarter of livestock farms, amounting to 45,500 farms, were lost in 12 years from 2005 to 2016. That loss was part of a longer-term trend for all farms, with more than 110,000 farms gone from the 319,000 farms in 1990.

Many farmers have warned that Brexit could hasten the loss of smaller farms, as the UK’s markets open up to lower-cost imports from outside the EU that previously faced tariffs and other barriers. The government has been phasing in new support for farmers, based on payments for providing public goods such as tree planting, wildlife protection and nurturing the soil, but it is still unclear how these will work in practice.

Ministers also announced a consultation last week on giving lump sums to farmers who want to retire, accompanied by support for people who want to enter farming, but cannot afford to. However, some farmers concerned that the scheme will encourage a further exodus of small farmers.

The Prince of Wales has long been a supporter of sustainable farming, and earlier this year launched Terra Carta, a roadmap to 2030 for businesses to move towards a low-carbon and environmentally sustainable future. He said this could provide a template for farmers coming together in cooperatives to reach consumers who are increasingly interested in buying locally and from small-scale producers.

“These [small] farmers are some of the most hard-working and innovative small businesses and, in so many ways, we depend on them far more than most of us will ever know,” the prince wrote.

Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers’ Union, echoed his views: “We would not want to see a loss of the traditional family farm. We would lose the culture and heritage of this country, where 70% of the land is farmed and the expectation is that at the end of every farm track is a family. Our national identity is built on this.”


Small farmers in the UK are increasingly worried about what Brexit will mean for them, with the government’s approaching trade deal with Australia provoking widespread unease. Many farmers told the Guardian they were alarmed at the impact an influx of cheap meat and other produce could have on small farmers and the British countryside.

Liz Lewis, who with her husband, David, farms 650 hectares (1,600 acres) in north Wiltshire, including a beef cattle herd producing 100 calves a year, said: “This will be curtains for small livestock farmers. There’s a lot fewer already. It won’t happen overnight, it will be a slow burn, but in a few years you will see it.”

She warned that the UK’s landscape would be transformed, as has happened in the US, into widespread factory farming with a green veneer. “It’s sad for the younger generation – it’s really hard to see how they can make money unless they intensify, by going for big feedlots [of the kind common in the US],” she said. “You have to imagine what the countryside will be like in 10 or 20 years’ time – it will not be what we’re used to. There will be more trees, but behind those trees there will be industrialised farms.”

Tim Ashton, in north Shropshire, said the impact of the loss of small farms was already evident, even in the most rural areas. “What we’re seeing around us is social cleansing. Local people can’t afford to live here and small farms are disappearing. There is a lot of gentrification happening – you expect to see that in Cornwall or the Cotswolds but now it’s even coming here.”


Consumers would also lose out from the decline of small farms, said Ruth Hancock, a self-described “new entrant” who faced many barriers to setting up as a small farmer. She said: “We are at great risk of creating a two-tier food system akin to that in the US, where we may end up having a few smaller or organic producers supplying the concerned and better-off citizen. Meanwhile, the vast majority have to make do with the lowest common denominator imports, because they can’t afford to buy better or don’t understand the difference.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “Our landmark plans for a renewed agricultural sector will transform the way we produce food and support farmers in England. Through these changes, rather than paying farmers and landowners for the amount of land they manage, we will pay them to provide environmental and animal health and welfare outcomes. We are phasing out the current subsidy, the basic payment scheme, in a phased and progressive way. This means that initially those who claim smaller amounts of subsidy will receive a smaller reduction in their payments when we make the first reduction later this year.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
×