Building on our food security

Our research reveals that almost 14,500 hectares of the country’s best agricultural land, which could grow at least 250,000 tonnes of vegetables a year based on typical yields, has been permanently lost to development since 2010.

This means that to:

• Two million fewer people can be fed their five a day from vegetables homegrown in England as prime farmland lost to development.
• Food security concerns increase, with 60% of England’s finest agricultural land at the highest risk of flooding from climate change.
• Nearly 300,000 homes have been built on prime farmland, with an extra 1,400 hectares used for renewable energy projects – despite more than enough previously developed brownfield land waiting for regeneration.