Farmer Opinion Tracker for England: April 2026

This annual GOV.UK report contains estimates from the Farmer Opinion Tracker providing a snapshot of views and opinions towards Defra’s vision for farming at this time. Farmers were asked questions about business planning, relationships with farming organisations and Defra, new schemes and the future of farming.

Key messages for April 2026

• Farmers on 57% of holdings said that they either fully (7%) or roughly (50%) understand Defra’s vision for farming, similar to the percentage in April 2025 (56%).
• Farmers on 36% of holdings indicated that they are making changes to their farm business and a further 46% said they will need to make changes to their farm business in the next 5 years.
• Farmers on 53% of holdings said that they would be making changes to their agri-environment scheme agreements within the next year.
• Farmers on 80% of holdings said that Defra paying for environmental outcomes will be very (58%) or moderately (22%) important to their business in the future.
• Farmers on 71% of holdings are not at all confident that changes to schemes and regulations will lead to a successful future for farming, similar to the percentage in April 2025 (72%).
• Farmers on 35% of holdings feel positive about their future in farming (3% very positive; 32% somewhat positive).

A time series comparing the results from each survey from September 2019 to date can be found on GOV.UK as well as a dataset providing a more detailed breakdown of each question’s responses for farm ownership, size, type and region. Access the time series and data series here: Farmer Opinion Tracker for England - GOV.UK