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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of short-term land use to improve soil health and resilience to droughts and floods.

Defra currently has research programmes underway on the impact of different agricultural land management options.

The Government recognises the importance of healthy, functioning soil for resilience against the impacts of climate change, such as flooding and drought. The rich variety of soils across England need to be managed with particular consideration given to the soil type, climate, land use and desired function. While these decisions are made at farm level, they need the right frameworks, incentives and conditions from Government and the wider food chain. That is why the Government is currently consulting on our vision for land use in England, which will inform the development of a Land Use Framework.