The Countryside Alliance has published a briefing note on the impact of land use change on food security, and shared it with MPs ahead of the debate in Westminster Hall on Tuesday 18 November, 2025. A summary of the briefing note can be found below, and it can be downloaded in full here.
A recent government consultation set out the expectation that 14% of England’s current agricultural land would see a significant reduction or total loss of food production by 2050. The document states that land use change is required in order to “make space for nature, water, and emissions reduction, while also delivering new infrastructure and housing and maintaining food production”.
The proposed approach would seem to be an advance over taking prime agricultural land out of production for use as sites for renewable energy generation and afforestation. This current trend must not just be halted but reversed.
The Countryside Alliance welcomes the statement that decisions must be fit for the long term. Long-term decision-making relies upon the recognition that where change of use affects the viability of generating revenue through the market, there must be certainty over how its continued management will be funded.
Much land management decision-making is so long-term as to be multi-generational. We have argued that the government should revisit the changes to the inheritance tax regime as announced in the 2024 Autumn Budget.
Domestic food security is national security and must be protected. Any reduction in available agricultural land must be offset by increased productivity, with account taken of population growth.
Large-scale land use change, and the benefits envisaged from it, cannot be delivered without the support and work of practitioners. The government cannot deliver its environmental targets without those who own and manage the land.
