UK farming insights from 2025 and looking ahead to 2026
15 January 2026From new government policies to the Oxford Farming Conference insights, 2026 marks a defining moment for the future of UK farming.
Reflections on 2025
2025 was a year of transition rather than resolution. Some of the most significant changes landed in the final weeks of the year with the Government’s changes to Agricultural Property Relief and the announcement of new National Planning Policy Framework.
The planning changes stem from the IGD Viewpoint report, proposing changes to boost sustainable growth of domestic food production, by enabling the delivery of better accommodation for livestock, on-farm reservoirs, greenhouses and polytunnels. This is a positive step, our report, articulated the growth opportunity that exists across the horticulture and poultry sectors. Development could add £1.3bn in annual production value and support an additional 60,000 jobs. This is a sign of green shoots for change and an example of creating an opportunity for good growth but there is still lots more to be done.
Policy changes throughout the year, included significant adjustments to the Environmental Land Management schemes, including expanded payment rates, simplified application routes and clearer long-term commitments. Ministers also outlined new productivity and innovation funding aimed at supporting digital tools, automation, and low‑carbon infrastructure.
The agricultural sector encountered significant challenges in 2025. Extreme weather events, including the driest spring on record, resulted in highly variable harvest outcomes. 2025 wheat yields came in at 7.2 tonnes per hectare, the second lowest yield recorded since 2010, with some farms reporting their worst years on record.
Increasing supply chain disruption and rising input costs further intensified operational pressures throughout the supply chain
The industry also faced the rapid expansion of automation, data systems and advanced manufacturing. Shifts that may widen the gap between highly adaptive, tech‑enabled businesses and those constrained by capital, labour shortages or scale.
Food system events throughout 2025 have highlighted a growing commitment to collaboration and trust‑building across the sector, a crucial foundation as the industry transitions into 2026.
Farming Profitability Review
At the end of 2025, the Farming Profitability Review was published, an independent review conducted by Baroness Batters for the Government. She concluded that farming profitability has been under long‑term pressure and that improvements will require coordinated action across policy, supply chains and land‑use planning. Her core focus is to restore balance between food production and the environment.
The Farming Profitability Review sets out a clear ambition: to help farms make, grow, produce and sell more in measurable ways that deliver financial certainty, while building long‑term resilience and optimising food production with lower environmental impact.
At its core, the Review sends a message that if England wants a thriving rural economy, it must finally give farmers the tools and certainty to produce more and produce it profitably. It urges England to establish its own principles and values for farming, setting a clear direction for a thriving rural economy.
The Review is explicit about the role of partnerships, working together is not important, it’s essential. The recommendations include quick wins that could create greater policy certainty, clearer long‑term signals, and better data and market monitoring to support confident decision‑making.
Other recommendations look further ahead including:
growing the USP of “Brand Britain”
raising productivity and incentivising resilience
supporting farmers to expand income from farming and growing
placing nature, biodiversity and water quality at the heart of how value is created.
The opportunity now is to turn these ideas into action and to build a profitability framework that helps the sector move forward with clarity and confidence. The Government has already confirmed a commitment to building stronger partnerships with farmers from the recommendations in the review. Including plans for a new Farming and Food Partnership Board, a £30 million collaboration fund and measures to support growth and resilience through expanded trade, investment in technology and planning reforms to ease the development of farming infrastructure.
The Government’s forthcoming Farming Roadmap is where it has committed to responding to this review in detail.
The OFC 2026 and setting the scene for 26
Emma Reynolds MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs outlined the UK Government’s vision for farming in 2026 at the Oxford Farming Conference in January. An event bringing industry and policy makers together to shape the national agricultural discussion.
The Secretary of State announced reforms to the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) to make it simpler, fairer, and more predictable. The new SFI update stated it will scale back actions that take land out of production. This signals a shift in government thinking, suggesting the previous approach of removing land from production to meet sustainability goals may be changing.
These new commitments offer a cautiously optimistic outlook for UK agriculture moving into 2026. Coupled with advancing technologies, the strategic prioritisation of the food system by UK government brings new opportunities for growth. However, the increasingly volatile climate and geopolitical pressures will continue to test the food system into the new year.
The overall agenda of the 2026 Oxford Farming Conference reinforced many of the transitions that defined 2025, offering clearer direction for how the sector must evolve. A central theme was data as a strategic asset, with a strong call for cultural change in how farmers, scientists, industry and government collect and share information. IGD sees delivering a baselining of England's farmland as essential to accelerating a sustainable food system transition.
The OFC 2026 report highlights that mission‑led, data‑driven planning will be essential for climate resilience and long‑term farm profitability. This connects directly to the Farming Profitability Review, emphasising that profitability, environmental outcomes, and resilience are the foundation to a successful farming strategy.
The OFC report offers practical guidance on the complexity of farm decision‑making, showing how farmers set their own business objectives and assess opportunities that meet the requirements of industry, government and citizens. It reinforces that becoming more investable, resilient and opportunity‑led is not optional but a continuous process that requires stability, agility and strategic planning.
Speakers at the conferences, including Jack Bobo, highlighted the need to build a system that’s better, not just bigger, one capable of adapting to demographic change and climate pressures, where those who prepare for this future will be the ones who succeed. At IGD, our focus for 2026 is to help the UK food system be the best prepared for success. That means working together to build a sector that is more resilient, more productive and better equipped to deliver a thriving food system for everyone. Central to that ambition is recognising the vital role agriculture plays within it, not as a standalone industry, but as the foundation on which the entire system depends.