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

To ask His Majesty's Government how many acres of agricultural land which were previously being farmed were set aside for rewilding in (1) 2018, (2) 2019, (3) 2020, (4) 2021, and (5) 2022.

The Government does not instruct farmers to ‘set aside’ land for rewilding. We are phasing out subsidies so that we can invest the money in policies that work for farm businesses, food production and the environment. We are co-designing our reforms with farmers and, as we said in the Agricultural Transition Plan, the intention of our environmental land management schemes is to be flexible and to provide more choice and control to farmers.

The government is supporting a number of initiatives to create wilder landscapes across England, as part of a broader approach to nature recovery. However, rewilding is not appropriate in all situations, and we must balance priorities including food production.