Farmland in England will be reduced by more than 10% by 2050 under government plans, with less meat produced and eaten by the country’s citizens.
The environment secretary, Steve Reed, on Friday launched the government’s blueprint for land use change to balance the need to build infrastructure and meet nature and carbon targets.
Grassland, used to rear livestock, faces the largest reduction under government plans. This means, Reed said, people will also be encouraged to eat less meat.
Reed explained: “I’ll speak to consumers about the choices that they’re taking there. We know we need to develop a food strategy. If we can give parents better information to make better informed choices, they will do that. I’m sure that there will be no mandate from government about that, but I’m sure those informed choices will then affect what farmers grow, and producers and manufacturers provide, to meet the demands as that changes.”
He added that farmland that is currently flooded most years should not be used for growing food and could potentially be put to better use if it was restored for nature.
Reed said: “Into the future it is probably not a good idea to keep growing crops in fields like that, because your investment will get destroyed. But what a great location, perhaps, to plant more vegetation, more trees, to help reduce flooding in a nearby urban area.”
Reed added that while the government is “not going to tell farmers what to do”, “levers and incentives” will be used to ensure land is used in the most efficient way.
Government officials have produced maps of England showing where there is the most potential for different types of nature restoration, and where it is best to farm. Farmland will be used more intensively under the guidelines, producing more food in less space. Some areas have been highlighted that need to be protected, such as rare peatland and places with high potential for woodland to be grown.
Some arable land will be lost under the plans, as large areas next to rivers will have to be kept free for the government to meet its river cleanliness targets, for example with trees planted to soak up nutrient pollution in the waters.
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Martin Lines, the chief executive of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, said: “For too long, land use has been viewed in narrow or binary terms, often pitting food production against nature, or farming against biodiversity restoration. We must acknowledge that most of our land can deliver on multiple fronts – safeguarding food production, mitigating climate change and protecting nature. The focus must be on maximising the benefits land can provide by embracing its multifunctionality, rather than limiting it to single uses.”
The National Farmers’ Union warned that the framework should not hinder farmers in producing food. Tom Bradshaw, the union’s president, said: “Over the past 18 months, the UK farming industry has taken a battering. Volatile input costs, commodity prices on the floor in some sectors, a reduction in direct payments, one of the wettest periods in decades, and a brutal budget delivered by this government. All have left their mark and have put homegrown food production under serious pressure. It’s imperative this framework does not further restrict farmers’ ability to produce the nation’s food.”
In recent weeks, environmental groups have been concerned that the government is pitting growth against the climate and the net zero by 2050 target. But Reed made a full-throated defence of nature’s role in the economy and said it has to be a thread running through the government’s decisions. He said: “This is a government that is absolutely committed to protecting and restoring nature. It runs through all of the plan for change, the government’s plans, and it is present in all of in all of the missions, it’s in all the speeches. We are working on common-sense changes that create a win-win for nature and the economy, and the land use framework is a significant part of that.”
