Huge rise in building on prime farmland in England stokes food security fears

Boris Johnson with vegetable pickers last month as they harvested courgettes in Cornwall. Farmland that could grow 250,000 tonnes of food a year has been lost to development since 2010, a CPRE report has found. Photograph: WPA/Getty Images

The rate at which infrastructure is built on prime farmland in England has risen a hundredfold in the past decade, a report has found, as it calls the country’s food security into question.

Farmland that could grow 250,000 tonnes of vegetables a year has been lost to development, with 300,000 homes built on prime land since 2010.