PM Announces £65 Million Drought Support Package for England's Farmers

The Prime Minister has announced a £65 million support package for farmers in England as the country enters what officials describe as its third drought in five years. The funding follows the driest July on record in England and Wales, and comes a day after Andy Burnham chaired COBR, the government's emergency response committee on the national response to extreme heat, wildfires, and drought.

Around three quarters of England is now under formal drought status, declared by the Environment Agency. Visiting a farm in the South West on 14 August alongside Farming Minister Stephen Morgan, Burnham met farmers directly affected and set out the government's response.

The £65 million does not involve new money, it is drawn from reprioritisation within Defra's existing farming budget. The measures address three overlapping pressures, farmers losing income through scheme payment cuts if they use restricted land for feed, running out of water for crops and livestock, and being unable to afford the infrastructure to store it for the future.

An additional £50 million has been added to the Sustainable Farming Incentive budget for 2026, taking total SFI funding for the year to £290 million. This is intended to help more farms access support during the drought period and to accommodate increased take up as agreements run into drought related difficulties. No changes have been announced to SFI eligibility criteria or payment rates.

Up to £15 million is available specifically for on farm reservoir construction, the strand of the package aimed at longer term resilience rather than immediate relief.

Two planning related changes accompany the capital funding:

Farm water abstraction is licensed and subject to hands off flow limits, restrictions that halt abstraction when river flows fall too low. The Environment Agency recorded over 1,500 licence restrictions in the week ending 12 August 2026. In East Anglia, Section 57 spray irrigation restrictions were applied to 302 licences in the same period.

Those limits remain in place. The package changes the speed and administration of licence variations, and makes it easier for water to be shared between holdings so it reaches where it is needed fastest. The Environment Agency will provide direct support to farmers navigating the process.

The package is designed to address immediate crises, failed grass, dwindling water, and the threat of losing scheme income while beginning to invest in infrastructure that could reduce exposure to future dry summers. How much relief it delivers depends significantly on how long conditions persist.

This package applies to England only. Farming policy is devolved, and drought status in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland is the responsibility of their respective administrations. The Environment Agency declared drought status in England, which currently covers East Anglia, Hertfordshire and London, Kent, the Thames Valley, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Devon and Cornwall, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, the East and West Midlands, and Wessex.

Ministers acknowledged on 14 August that this is England's third drought in five years. The 2022 drought saw the same temporary stewardship flexibilities deployed. The pattern is driving an acknowledgement across government that farmers face structural climate exposure, not just occasional bad summers.

The drought package sits alongside several longer term commitments already announced:

The government has said the current dry weather is not expected to affect national food security, and that the UK has a resilient food system. Environment Secretary Angela Eagle acknowledged farmers were "facing some of the toughest conditions in decades" and confirmed officials are working closely with water companies, environmental organisations, and local partners.

The £65 million package is the government's emergency response to an exceptional summer drought funded by reprioritisation within Defra's existing budget rather than new money, and focused on keeping farms viable through a short term crisis.

The stewardship flexibilities provide genuine immediate relief for farmers who would otherwise face losing scheme income or abandoning environmental agreements over a temporary shortage of feed. The reservoir funding and planning reforms are longer term investments that will take months or years to bear results on the ground.

The Budget date not yet confirmed will be the next major decision point for farming support. Any structural changes to SFI funding beyond 2026-27, wider abstraction reform, or long term reservoir investment will need to be set out then.