6. What recent discussions she has had on the objectives of the Campaign for the Farmed Environment; and if she will make a statement. (3942)

The Government are strongly committed to the Campaign for the Farmed Environment, which we consider to be an excellent example of the farming industry taking responsibility for its environmental impacts. The Secretary of State and I met a number of senior representatives of the campaign’s partner organisations at the recent cereals event and discussed aspects of the campaign with them, and we look forward to receiving the progress report later this month.

I thank the Minister for his response. He may be interested to know that I shall be attending an event to promote the Campaign for the Farmed Environment in my constituency this very evening. Can he say what the level of uptake has been for the campaign across the country?

The latest statistics we have are from a survey done in February. As I have said, there will be a further report shortly, but the latest statistics show that 25% of farmers had already taken measures under the campaign and that another 50% plan to do so in the near future.