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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) biodiversity, and (2) the opportunities to intensify agricultural land use where other incentives are deemed uncompetitive, in upland areas relative to lowland areas.

The uplands are nationally and internationally important for biodiversity, and have significant agricultural, landscape, archaeological, recreational, cultural and natural resource value. We recognise the unique challenges that upland farmers face. In order to ensure we are giving farmers in the uplands the right support, we are engaging with a wide range of bodies through our Uplands Task and Finish Group. The group is looking at the particular challenges in the uplands and how they can be addressed.