Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir has welcomed the publication of a report produced by a Land Use Working Group (LUWG) entitled Land of Plenty?.

The working group, chaired by the NI director of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, John Woods, was established in 2025, with 20 members from across government, academia, farming and the environment. Its main task was to produce a set of principles to help guide future land use policy making in NI. As a result, the report does not go into thorny issues around how much land should be taken out of livestock production and planted in trees or energy crops to help meet the 2050 net zero greenhouse gas emission targets set by the NI Assembly in 2022.

Instead, among the main recommendations of the group is that a land use framework is adopted for NI, which is focused on achieving various outcomes relating to the likes of soil health, biodiversity, water quality, food production and renewable energy.

“The group’s report is a valuable contribution, bringing together a wide range of expertise and perspectives,” commented Minister Muir.

The department will now take forward work to develop a land use framework, with a stakeholder forum to be established.