The National Farmers Union (NFU) has issued a call to the UK government to prioritise domestic food production at a level comparable to environmental concerns.
- NFU President Minette Batters has highlighted the UK’s current self-sufficiency statistic of 60% in food production, urging legislative measures to prevent any decrease.
- Current global circumstances including the Ukraine conflict and climate anomalies have undermined food supply stability, with agri-food inflation rising to 19.2% in the UK.
- The dependency on global imports is a point of vulnerability for the UK’s food supply chains, necessitating greater domestic resilience.
- Climate change’ impacts are evident in Europe and the UK, where farmers face extraordinary challenges, including dealing with extreme weather and its repercussions.
The National Farmers Union (NFU) has urged the UK government to prioritise domestic food production, ensuring its importance is matched by that of environmental policies. This call to action comes amidst data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) indicating that the UK is 60% self-sufficient in food, a figure that NFU President Minette Batters insists should not fall any further. She has advocated for legislative action to guarantee this level of self-sufficiency is maintained.
In her statement, Batters pointed out that the UK’s agri-food inflation has reached 19.2%, exacerbated by global supply chain disruptions attributed to the Ukraine conflict. Additionally, she noted that February was the driest since 1993, highlighting the unprecedented volatility impacting the global food system. Her remarks underscore a pressing need for improved preparedness and resilience within the UK’s food supply chains to handle adversities such as extreme weather conditions.
Batters elaborated on how climate change is already disrupting food production worldwide. Farmers in Southern Europe are battling wildfires, while their UK counterparts are being financially burdened by the need to dry excessively wet grain. Concurrently, the Ukraine crisis is placing considerable stress on the global grain market. This scenario illustrates the urgent requirement for a resilient national food system that can endure such challenges.
Furthermore, the NFU has stressed the importance of reducing reliance on imports by enhancing the resilience of domestic supply chains. Batters emphasized that the UK government must actively engage with food chain resilience to mitigate vulnerabilities caused by economic and climatic stresses globally. Her call to action is rooted in the recognition that UK supply chains are currently too fragile to depend on external sources under current global conditions.
The NFU’s appeal highlights an urgent need for legislative action to bolster the UK’s domestic food production and supply chain resilience amidst growing global challenges.
