Huge rise in building on prime farmland in England stokes food security fears
I read this article through the filter of remembering someone called Matthew Taylor who wrote a great piece of policy called “Living, Working, Countryside”. It tells us:
The rate at which infrastructure is built on prime farmland in England has risen a hundredfold in the past decade, a report has found, as it calls the country’s food security into question.
Farmland that could grow 250,000 tonnes of vegetables a year has been lost to development, with 300,000 homes built on prime land since 2010.
There was a huge rise in “best and most versatile” agricultural land set aside for housing and industry between 2010 and 2022, up from 60 hectares (148 acres) a year to more than 6,000.
Politicians have been looking at the way land is used in the country, as in order to tackle the climate emergency as well as feed people, farming must become lower-emission, more productive and increase biodiversity.
This means that low-grade farmland, which requires more irrigation and fertiliser, may have to be used for infrastructure instead of prime land, which is more efficient for growing food.
As well as being at risk from development, prime land is also more at risk of flooding, raising deeper questions about food security as Britain experiences more extreme weather events as a result of the climate crisis.
Sixty per cent of grade 1 agricultural land (more than 200,000 hectares) is within flood zone 3, the areas at highest risk of flooding.
CPRE, the countryside charity that published the report, is calling for the government to produce a comprehensive land use strategy, setting out what type of land should be used for which purpose and is asking for a “brownfield first” approach to housebuilding. It is also calling for a firm presumption against development on prime farmland.