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:
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1% making small changes such as planting herbs or other plants along field margins
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4% incorporating more trees alongside food production
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5% repurposed mostly for environmental benefits, while still producing food
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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 : “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, external, 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.
