DEFRA have launched a consultation to gather views on the future of land use in England. This comes nearly four years after the National Food Strategy Report was published (known as the Dimbleby Report).

The consultation seeks to review and understand the challenges and opportunities of how land is used. The government have said that they have ambitions of a "fair land use transition" which will:

• make space for nature recovery, water, and emissions reduction
   
• support sustainable and resilient food production 
   
• deliver new infrastructure and housing 
   
• fix the foundations for resilient long term economic growth
   
• co-create plans for delivery of these aims working alongside land owners, businesses, and communities. 

News headlines have mainly focused on some of the headline statistics included in the report. This includes the suggestion that land use for agricultural purposes might need to reduce by 9% to be used for environmental and climate benefits. 

But the wider report shows more nuance than the headlines would otherwise suggest. This includes thinking about what small adjustments can be made such as increasing nature-friendly practices within existing agricultural land and more sustainable farming practices without changing the primary use of the land. 

It also acknowledges the central role of farmers to produce food and that any changes will need to incentivise and make practical and economic sense for those who own the land. 

(For those not keen to be drawn into some of the more technical queries, the report is well worth a skim even just to look at the pretty diagrams of how land in England is actually used!)