In a 14 August 2026 press release, Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s office and Defra set out an England farm drought package worth **£65 million** after what the government described as the driest July on record in England and Wales. The announcement followed a COBR meeting - the government’s emergency response committee - on extreme heat, wildfires and drought, and placed farm support inside a wider response covering water management and infrastructure. (gov.uk) The Prime Minister framed domestic food production as a national security issue. That helps explain why the package mixes short-term scheme flexibilities, extra money within existing farm support budgets, and planning and licensing changes intended to keep farm businesses operating through the current drought while improving water resilience for later summers. (gov.uk)
The funding split is specific. According to the government announcement, **£50 million** will be added to Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026, taking that budget to **£290 million**, while up to **£15 million** is reserved for on-farm reservoirs. The full **£65 million** is being found through reprioritisation within Defra’s farming budget. (gov.uk) That matters for farm businesses and advisers. The measure expands support in some areas, but it also shows ministers are reallocating money inside the existing departmental envelope rather than opening a separate emergency spending round. (gov.uk)
The most immediate relief comes through environmental scheme rules. Defra says farmers affected by drought will have more freedom to graze or cut habitat land without automatically losing payments, so long as soil is not damaged. The flexibilities apply across the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Countryside Stewardship and legacy stewardship agreements, and the department notes that a similar approach was used during the 2022 drought. (gov.uk) For mixed and livestock farms, that change is more than administrative. Where grass growth has stalled, land already in environmental agreements may be the only remaining source of feed, and payment protection reduces the risk that farmers leave those long-term agreements because a short, severe weather event made compliance impossible. (gov.uk)
Water access changes are narrower than the headline may suggest. The statutory hands-off flow limits that stop abstraction when river levels fall too low will remain in place, but ministers say the package will speed up licence variations and make it easier to share water between holdings where it is most needed, with Environment Agency support. (gov.uk) The pressure on the system is already substantial. The Environment Agency recorded more than **1,500** abstraction licence restrictions in the week to **12 August 2026**, including **302** Section 57 spray irrigation restrictions in East Anglia. For growers trying to protect late-season crops, quicker decisions on variations and water sharing may matter as much as additional grant funding. (gov.uk)
The announcement also uses the drought response to advance planning reform. The government says it will reduce what it describes as unnecessary barriers to reservoir construction, with fuller detail due in an updated National Planning Policy Framework on **17 August 2026**. Defra also says it is working with the National Farmers’ Union on an evidence-led review of permitted development rights for on-farm reservoirs. (gov.uk) This is a medium-term measure rather than an immediate answer to August water shortages. Even so, it signals that reservoir delivery is being treated as a planning issue as well as a farm support issue, with national policy expected to shorten at least part of the approval process for new storage. (gov.uk)
The package applies to **England only**, because farming policy is devolved. In the additional information attached to the press release, the government said drought status was covering 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 - roughly three-quarters of England. (gov.uk) That position is materially worse than it was at the end of July. On **29 July 2026**, the Environment Agency said half of England was in drought, after July had delivered just **7%** of expected rainfall nationally and only **1%** across southern England. The Agency described 2026 as the third drought year in five years, following drought episodes in 2022 and 2025. (gov.uk)
The government’s formal line is that national food security is not expected to be affected, even though individual farm businesses are under acute pressure from lower yields, earlier harvests and feed shortages. Ministers say work will continue through the Farming Roadmap, the National Drought Group and the Farming and Food Partnership Board. (gov.uk) For policy readers, the announcement is best read as a drought management package rather than a redesign of farm support. It offers compliance relief, some extra scheme money and a stronger push on storage and planning, while leaving the basic environmental safeguards and low-flow abstraction controls in place. (gov.uk)
The wider context is a government attempt to link farm drought policy to broader water and civil resilience work already under way. Defra has previously said it wants to fast-track **nine new reservoirs**, while the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced a **£97 million** upgrade of national fire and rescue resilience assets in June 2026 to improve response to wildfires, flooding and other major incidents. The 14 August farm package presents these strands as part of one drought and heat resilience response. (gov.uk) That framing is significant for implementation. It suggests future changes are likely to come not only through Defra farm schemes, but also through water planning, infrastructure consenting and emergency response policy across departments. (gov.uk)