Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take in the Biomass Strategy to ensure that energy crops do not create competition with food production on high quality agricultural land.

Land availability is a key consideration of any future role for domestic biomass production. The Food Strategy, published in June 2022, commits to publishing a land use framework for England in 2023 which will set out land-use change principles to ensure food security is balanced alongside climate, environment and infrastructure outcomes. We are seeking to deliver as much as we can on our limited supply of land, to meet the full range of HM Government commitments through multifunctional landscapes.