The British countryside will be transformed through the planting of tall energy crops, the BA Festival of Science in York heard on Monday. Fields planted with miscanthus grass, 3-4 metres high, will look like Caribbean sugarcane plantations.

The government’s Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) programme estimates that 15-20 per cent of Britain’s agricultural land may have to be devoted to growing biofuels to meet international obligations to reduce carbon emissions and improve energy security.