Rural Areas: Devon

(asked on 20th April 2022) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for its policies of Devon's Campaign to Protect Rural England's suggestion that regenerative agriculture is a better use for Devon's greenfield land than solar panels.


Answered by
Victoria Prentis Portrait
Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
This question was answered on 28th April 2022

We recognise the need to preserve our most productive farmland. As stated in the recently published British Energy Security Strategy, we will continue supporting the effective use of land by encouraging large-scale solar projects to locate on previously developed, or lower value land, where possible, and ensure projects are designed to avoid, mitigate, and where necessary, compensate for the impacts of using greenfield sites. The Government also supports solar that is co-located with other functions (for example, agriculture) to maximise the efficiency of land use.

Our new Environmental Land Management schemes will support and incentivise farmers who embrace sustainable, regenerative practices. Many farm businesses are already adopting and developing regenerative techniques such as the use of cover crops, strip tilling, and practices to reduce fertiliser or herbicide use. We believe that environmental improvements and producing food go hand in hand. We have recently increased the Farming Investment Fund for small technology grants from £17 million to over £48 million, supporting around 4,000 farmers with their investment plans.

Reticulating Splines