Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Defra
The United Kingdom’s ministerial department for the environment, food, farming and fisheries. Defra states that it is responsible for improving and protecting the environment, and that it supports the UK’s food, farming and fishing industries. It is supported by a large number of agencies and public bodies, several of which hold the operational regulatory functions.
- Jurisdiction
- United Kingdom
- Government level
- National
- Authority type
- Department
- Status
- Active
Visit the official websitehttps://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs
Responsibilities
Each item below is recorded from the authority’s own published material, not inferred from its name.
- Farm policy
States that it supports the UK’s food, farming and fishing industries, and publishes agricultural development policy.
Source: Defra — Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
- Agricultural subsidiesStatutory
Publishes and administers funding for farmers and land managers.
Source: Defra — Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
- Animal healthStatutory
Issues guidance and control measures for notifiable animal disease, including avian influenza and bluetongue.
Source: Defra — Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
- Import export certificationStatutory
Publishes the requirements for bringing food and animal products into Great Britain.
Source: Defra — Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
- Rural development
States an aim of sustaining thriving rural communities.
Source: Defra — Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
- Fisheries
Covers fisheries alongside food and farming within the same departmental remit.
Source: Defra — Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Sources and verification
Official GOV.UK organisation page resolved with HTTP 200 and states the department is “responsible for improving and protecting the environment… We also support our world-leading food, farming and fishing industries”, listing farming funding, animal disease and food-import policy areas.
Verified 2026-08-19 against https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs · domain classification: Official government portal
Important limitations
- Defra is supported by separate agencies and public bodies; several operational regulatory functions (for example plant health and rural payments) sit with those bodies rather than the department itself, and are not asserted here.
- Agricultural competence is devolved across the United Kingdom; this record does not describe the devolved administrations’ separate authorities.