100,000 plus petition for nature-friendly farming handed in to Downing Street

Our petition calling on the UK Government to protect and grow the nature-friendly farming budget has now reached over 100,000 signatures. With yet more and more people still signing, this shows the widespread public support for nature-friendly farming.

A huge thank you to the thousands of people who have added their voices. Farmers, conservationists, landowners, RSPB members, supporters, campaigners and many more from all walks of life have come together to back nature-friendly farming.

On Tuesday 20 May, we handed the petition to Downing Street, taking your voices straight to the heart of Government to say loud and clear: protect and increase investment in nature-friendly farming. 

We are approaching a pivotal moment for nature and farming. The UK Government is considering how to balance budgets ahead of its Comprehensive Spending Review in June. The farming budget – the biggest pot of funding for nature – is in the firing line. But any cut now would be a disaster for nature and farming.

Much of the UK’s wildlife is in decline, with farmland birds particularly badly hit. Once familiar species such as Turtle Doves, Skylarks and Yellowhammers have seen populations fall in recent years. With 70% of the UK farmed, working with farmers is the best chance we have of seeing our wildlife numbers recover and then soar. 

Nature-friendly farming also makes farming as a business more resilient and profitable in the long term. It can keep our soils and water healthier and increase natural pest controls and pollinators such as bees, on which much of our food relies.   

In fact, every £1 spent on nature-friendly farming delivers £3.60 in public benefit — including clean water, food security, flood resilience, and restored biodiversity. Any cuts to the nature-friendly farming budget would be short-sighted, proving costly to our economy, environment and futures.

That’s why we launched a petition to ask Chancellor Rachel Reeves to invest in nature-friendly farming. We already have the backing of many farmers, charities and other organisations, including the Nature Friendly Farming Network, the Soil Association, Landworkers’ Alliance, the National Trust and WWT.

Reaching over 100,000 signatures marks a clarion call for nature-friendly farming. This is a movement of people who care deeply about the countryside and recognise that to grow the food we need, we must value the part that nature plays and put it at the heart of the way we farm.

It’s vital that the Government's upcoming Spending Review does not see the nature-friendly farming budget slashed. Right now, nature needs more support not less.

Nature is counting on Rachel Reeves and the UK Government. If the nature-friendly farming budget is cut, we don’t just lose funding. We lose birdsong in our fields, bees in our hedgerows' and farmers who care for nature will be forced out by a system that no longer supports them. Cuts risk more polluted rivers, degraded soil, fewer wildlife habitats, and increased flood risks for communities.

Nature-friendly farming is not a luxury — it’s essential for a healthy, secure future for all.