Work on England’s farming future starts now, says the National Sheep Association
25th June 2026
Sheep farmers will welcome the clarity over Defra’s direction and priorities brought by the Farming Roadmap after years of uncertainty and be ready to meet the challenge, says NSA.
Many in the industry have been unsure which way the industry will head since the Brexit vote ten years ago, but the Farming Roadmap, released yesterday (Wednesday 24th June 2026) rightfully positions agriculture at the heart of the answer to so many of society’s resource questions.
Now the industry has a framework for collection progression, but NSA believes actions will speak louder than words.
NSA Chief Executive Phil Stocker says the document is best enshrined to ensure stability through changing administrations in a volatile and unpredictable world.
“NSA welcomes the new Farming Roadmap and looks forward to working with the Government and Defra to embed more detail and start to talk about practical implementation, but longevity is key. Commitment to long-term agricultural policy must be long-term to make a meaningful and positive difference.
"The Farming Roadmap is aspirational in its vision for profitability and moving towards reducing reliance on support. This is something we can all aim for, but we should recognise the challenges of rising costs and supply chain pressure to manage food inflation. That said, aspiration is a good thing, and this gives us a much-needed sense of direction."
NSA welcomes the roadmap’s ambition to:
- Connect farming with other existing plans for food, climate change, and environmental ambition.
- Discuss farming as a lower input, lower emissions system to produce high-quality food sustainably.
- Show the Government is mindful of the needs of the tenanted sector.
- Demonstrate understanding of the importance of new entrants into the industry.
- Acknowledge the need for commons to qualify for new support payments in Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs).
- Promote flock health and the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway, something NSA has put significant resource into towards programme establishment.
- Acknowledge that nature can be delivered through food production rather than in spite of it, a viewpoint shared by NSA.
- Put focus on spatial targeting of support through Sustainable Farming Incentive and Landscape Recovery.
NSA Policy Manager Michael Priestley says: “More will become clear over time as to how the sheep industry can work with this flagship document. At this early stage we have questions over how spatial targeting of funds will work.
“NSA’s view is farmers who work the land are well-placed to develop plans and feed into scheme design, not just in the development and road-testing but in the onwards monitoring and tweaking of schemes. This could signal a new era for more relevant and less generic and prescriptive agri-environmental options and could come in time at a critical time for our upland sheep sector."
