To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to detail the steps his Department is taking to promote farmland shifts to producing energy crops as recommended by the Climate Change Committee.

In his letter to me of 9 December 2020, Lord Deben noted that the production of energy crops could be beneficial to Northern Ireland in meetings its obligations in this regard.

Once Northern Ireland has an agreed Climate Act, a new future agricultural policy and a new energy strategy, the landscape in which we are all working will become clearer. I am actively considering all options to reduce carbon emissions from agriculture and land use and will be happy to discuss these in due course.