The government is to slash the nature-friendly farming budget in England by £100m in order to help fill what ministers say is a £22bn Treasury shortfall, the Guardian can reveal.

Nature groups and farmers have called this a “big mistake”, saying it jeopardised the government’s legally binding targets to improve nature.

This cut would mean at least 239,000 fewer hectares of nature-friendly farmland, according to research by the RSPB, and this could increase if the smaller budget puts farmers off applying.