English farmland could be cut by 9% to hit green targets

About 9% of England's farming land will need to be converted into forest and wild habitats by 2050 to meet the government's net zero and nature targets.

The benchmark was set out in a consultation launched by Environment Secretary Steve Reed.

In total, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) predicts nearly a fifth of the UK's agricultural land will need to change, as part of efforts to improve the eco-system.

But the department insists greater efficiencies on the remaining land could maintain UK food production at current levels.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Labour of "adding even more burdens on farmers".

The Land Use Framework was due to be published in 2023 but has faced considerable delays, with the scope and focus of the promised policy changing over time.

The framework was first suggested by the 2021 Dimbleby Review on a National Food Strategy, to help guide farming incentives and regulations.

On Friday, the government opened a consultation calling for ideas on how England should manage land use changes to balance food security, nature recovery, infrastructure needs and climate goals.

A working land-use framework would make it less likely "high-quality farmland" will be lost to housebuilding or energy projects, Defra said.

About 70% of England's land is used for farming.

Government analysis found 1.6 million hectares of farming land needs to be repurposed to meet its legal environmental and climate targets by 2050, including:

• 1% making small changes such as planting herbs or other plants along field margins

• 4% incorporating more trees alongside food production

• 5% repurposed mostly for environmental benefits, while still producing food

• 9% removed from food production to make way for the creation of woodland and other natural habitats

Defra say the impact of these land use changes on domestic food production will be offset by productivity improvements.

National Farmers Union President Tom Bradshaw welcomed the consultation, but said any future plans must have "British food at its heart".

"Food security is national security, we must have a land use plan in place, underpinned by sound science and evidence," Mr Bradshaw said.

Henry Dimbleby, author of the National Food Strategy and co-founder of food chain Leon, told the BBC: "A lot of land at the moment is very unproductive and one of the areas that is most unproductive is some of our grazing land.

"There's no way that we can satisfy all the requirements that we need from our land without reducing our meat production.

"Meat production is about 85% of our current farming use so we can afford to pull that back a bit in order to restore nature, in order to build houses, in order to get clean energy. That is not a major sacrifice."

According to 2023 Defra figures, the UK is 62% self-sufficient for food, down from a high of 78% in 1984.

If domestic production does decline over the next few years, England may need to import more food, increasing the UK's exposure to global food price shocks and supply chain disruptions.

"England is now one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world," the report said - with poor farming practices and climate change damaging soil and increasing water pollution.

Under the plans woodland would cover 16.5% of England's land by 2050, with an extra 500,000 hectares of new or restored "wildlife-rich habitat".

Restoration of degraded peatlands would also help cut 8 megatons of CO2 emissions annually, Defra predict.

Ahead of the consultation, Reed said that Labour would "not dictate" what landowners should do.

He said the framework "provides information to make it less likely that land will be used for solar farms when it's good for food production".

"There is enough land to build the infrastructure that we need and grow the food that we need and restore nature if we do it in a rational way, based on data," he added.

His comments come after Energy Secretary Ed Miliband approved two solar farms last week, both of which are partially on agricultural land.

Kemi Badenoch told broadcasters on a visit to a farm in Cheshire she was "worried that we are adding even more burdens on farmers".

She argued the government were "killing farmers in our country" through the introduction of "the family farm tax, the family business tax, the rise in national insurance,".

"To add even more burdens saying that we are going to spend more time on net zero shows they are not serious," Badenoch said.

Tony Juniper, Chair of Natural England, said a land use framework would help the country move beyond a "tired old binary choices, between housing and greenspace or Nature and food".

Nature was "too often" portrayed as a "barrier to development and food security", he added.

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