Landowners call for scrapping of plans to ban solar energy from England’s farmland

Landowners say banning the use of farmland for energy infrastructure would hurt food security by severing a vital income stream. Photograph: Julio Cortez/AP

Farmers have urged whoever succeeds Liz Truss as UK prime minister to abandon plans to ban solar energy from most of England’s farmland, arguing that it would hurt food security by cutting off a vital income stream.

Truss, who resigned on Thursday, and her environment secretary, Ranil Jayawardena, hoped to ban solar from about 41% of the land area of England, or about 58% of agricultural land, the Guardian revealed last week.