Double the Area of Land Managed for Farmland Wildlife by 2030
Commitment: Double the area of land in England that is managed primarily for farmland wildlife by 2030, compared to a 2020 baseline.
Owner: Defra / Natural England
Target date: 2030
Metric: Hectares of farmland under wildlife-focused management, as assessed via ELM scheme uptake data and Natural England monitoring.
Status: at-risk
Context
Farmland wildlife — including farmland birds (species like lapwing, grey partridge, turtle dove), invertebrates, and wildflowers — has experienced severe long-term decline in England. The EIP 2025 sets this doubling target as part of reversing that trend.
The primary delivery mechanism is Environmental Land Management (elm):
- Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI): Wildlife-friendly farming options (buffer strips, flower-rich margins, winter bird food)
- Countryside Stewardship: Higher-tier agreements with more specific habitat management requirements
- Landscape Recovery: Large-scale rewilding and habitat restoration
Key risk
The January 2026 SFI simplification removed some farmland bird-specific options and changed payment rates for wildlife management actions. This creates uncertainty about whether uptake of the remaining wildlife options will be sufficient to meet the doubling target.
The target requires not just enrollment in schemes but demonstrable improvement in farmland habitat quality.
Connection to species halt target
Progress toward the doubling of farmland wildlife habitat is a key contributing mechanism to the defra-species-halt-2030 target (halt species abundance decline by December 2030). Farmland birds are among the most severely declining species groups.