Nature of UK food: A view from Groundswell fields

As the nature crisis accelerates, a plethora of public and private initiatives are emerging. But support for farmers is patchy, data is limited, and investor confidence is fragile. How do we move forwards from here?

UK nature crisis deepens

Biodiversity loss is accelerating in the UK, now being one of the most nature-depleted countries on earth. Of the G7 countries, the UK has the lowest level of biodiversity remaining. Since 1970, the abundance of wildlife has fallen by 19% and wild mammals now make up just 4% of total mammals on the planet.

It’s nature and the environment that are one of the four pillars of the government food strategy, not sustainability.

Nature is critical to the UK food system

Biodiversity and nature are essential for contributing to a wealth of ecosystem services such as healthy soils, crop pollination, regulation of the climate and control of pests and diseases.

 The Dasgupta review highlights significant impacts that nature loss is having on productivity and resilience of ecosystems that are crucial for food production, creating risks for economies and livelihoods, and costing the UK around £1.2 billion a year.

Last year, IGD identified ten long-term risks to the UK food system in our report A system under pressure. Biodiversity loss is recognised as a primary threat to the UK food system.

The UK food system is critical to nature restoration

Whilst biodiversity loss and poor soil health are threatening the food system, the food system itself is often described as the primary driver of biodiversity decline.

Modern agriculture, intensification and conversion of land pose a key threat to species and soil health. Given that 70% of the UK’s land is used for agriculture, the food system has an important role to play in nature recovery.

Just in the last week, we’ve seen The Wildlife Trust launch their new vision for nature-friendly farming. The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) released new research on farmers attitudes to climate change and nature, the National Trust published their first transition plan with key action areas for carbon and nature, all coinciding with Groundswell regenerative agriculture festival, where nature and biodiversity were centre stage.

Nature is an ever-growing priority – gaining momentum

At last week’s Groundswell festival, Secretary of State for Defra, Steve Reed, clarified that only by restoring nature can we make our nation’s food more secure.

That’s why in the latest spending review in June, the UK government committed £2.7 billion a year in sustainable farming and nature recovery, and an uplift in funding for nature-friendly farming through the Environmental Land Management schemes, from £800 million in 2023–24 to £2 billion by 2028–29. We also expect to see the development of high-integrity nature markets, growing annual private investment flows to nature to more than £1 billion by 2030.

As well as government’s commitment to invest, there are a plethora of other emerging initiatives across the food system focused on nature and biodiversity restoration. E.g.:

• NEW this week - Dairy UK announcement on their Sustainable Dairy Pathways Report to help address environmental ambitions including nature goals.

• Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s baselining trial with 170 farms in England due to deliver valuable learning and progress this year, including on nature.

• WWF’s Nature Positive Pathways – guiding policy and private sector action to tackle the nature emergency.

• BRC Mondra Coalition - focused on developing a comprehensive carbon removals strategy

• Soil Association Exchange - working with farmers and businesses in the supply chain to measure environmental outcomes including soil health and biodiversity.

• And many more...

We also know based on the ECIU’s new report, many farmers, if given the right support, would consider creating habitats such as wildflower margins, tree planting and creating new woodlands, in addition to habitats they are already delivering on farm.

So the importance of nature restoration to the UK food system is recognised, but there is a significant fragmentation of initiatives, lack of support for farmers, often limited data to evidence the ROI for nature and resulting curb in investor confidence.

How to move forwards – what are the opportunities?

We expect to hear more from government in coming weeks on the highly anticipated Food Strategy, 25-year Farming Roadmap and Land Use Framework, including the re-launch of the Sustainable Farming Incentive. Clarity from government on the direction of sustainable farming and nature-based schemes in the UK will be essential to build trust with farmers and enable long-term planning for nature.

Paired with this, there is growing opportunity to initiate co-ordinated public-private sector support and funding models for nature recovery to help scale existing work, whilst sharing investment, risk and reward across supply chains.

One example of this could be the opportunity to build on AHDB’s work (mentioned above) to design a blended funding model to baseline England’s farms for carbon and nature, providing returns for the whole system and long-term national resilience.

As well as new opportunities for collective action, IGD will look to continually evolve existing guidance and reports based on ever-improving knowledge, metrics and data on nature and biodiversity in the UK food system. For example, in the context of the Net Zero Transition Plan for the UK Food System, and guidance on Environmental Labelling.

Calls to action:

• If you are working on nature-friendly farming or have identified where collective action could drive progress, get in touch with us [email protected]

• Look out for our Net Zero Transition Plan Progress Report that will be published in August, with more information on latest progress on nature.

• Register your interest for 2026, IGD's one-day conference ‘Future of the UK Food System’

• Sign up to our newsletter and read our latest health and sustainability content.

IGD’s Future of the UK Food System conference

Register your interest for IGD’s Future of the UK Food System conference in 2026 to hear further insights from IGD experts on the actions needed to create a more sustainable and resilient food system.

The event will bring fresh insights from our climate model and bringing together leading voices from across the industry. Stay informed and be part of shaping the future.