NFU calls on government to back British farmers and growers to increase food production
EMPTY shelves in supermarkets speak for themselves warn farmers, who are campaigning for more food to be produced in this country.
There’s strong support among the public for this point of view, with nine out of ten of us saying farming is important to the UK economy.
And eight out of ten of us think British farms should grow as much food as they can to provide national food security, according to a National Farmers’ Union (NFU) survey of 2,000 adults, carried out earlier this year. When it comes to growing and producing our own food, our self-sufficiency as a nation has fallen dramatically over the past four decades – from a high of 78 per cent in 1984, to just 60 per cent last year.
On top of this, the past 18 months have proved particularly tough for the farming community, thanks to sky-high costs, international market instability caused by the war in Ukraine, extreme weather conditions and delays in payments such as for subsidy schemes.
Now in a national fight-back, the NFU is calling on the government to do more to back British farmers and growers.
National NFU president Minette Batters said: “This food underpins the British food and farming sector and is worth more than £100 billion to the national economy, all while protecting and enhancing our iconic landscapes.
“Despite the challenges being faced by everyone this year, we are still doing what we do best – producing great tasting British food.
“We appreciate this public support more than ever and want to say a massive thank you to everyone.”
She added: “This is a clear message that the public backs our calls for government to prioritise homegrown food production and legislate to ensure the UK’s self-sufficiency does not drop below its current level of 60 per cent.
“We’ve had everything thrown at us over the past 18 months – soaring production costs, global market instability caused by the ongoing war in Ukraine, extreme bouts of weather and significant delays to farm payments.
“The empty shelves we’ve seen this year speak for themselves; we need to be producing more of our food here. Now is the time to ensure those policies are in place to support the production of quality, climate friendly, homegrown food.
“As we’ve said before, government has statutory targets for the environment – why can’t food production have the same status?
“Fundamentally, investing in domestic food production means we can increase our productivity, create more jobs and deliver much more for the economy and for the environment.”
That care for the environment is an important – and often overlooked – role farmers play.
Mark Meadows, county chairman of Warwickshire NFU, runs Tithe Farm in Alderminster with wife Emily and his parents. The family grow winter wheat and barley, oil seed rape, winter beans, spring wheat and barley.
Mr Meadows said: “As a farmer I am proud to produce high-quality crops like wheat and barley for people to enjoy and supply local businesses. We are all committed to the highest standards of food production, including animal welfare, and we are also enhancing the farmed environment and here at Stratford we have a variety of environmental schemes in place.”
A few of the eco-friendly measures at Tithe Farm include corners of fields planted for winter food for wild birds, strips of grasses to encourage ‘good’ insects and grass verges to reduce runoff into local streams.
The father-of-two added: “Our farms are helping to drive sustainability – we make a fundamental contribution to our economy and we can also offer many solutions to the climate change challenge.”
It’s not just the government which needs to show farming more support – supermarkets are also in the sights of the farming and food industry.
An open letter was sent last week to the ‘big six’ supermarkets urging them to treat suppliers more fairly. The letter, sent to the chief executives of Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl, claims that the supermarkets’ buying practices are “all too often imbalanced, short term and wasteful” and leaving farmers struggling to survive.
It reads: “Farmers are denied commitment or security – with whole crops rejected at the last minute in favour of cheaper options elsewhere, or just because supermarkets change their mind.
“Good food ends up rotting in the field. Farmers are left without payment for their crops. And without a stable, reliable income, they are struggling to survive.
“These practices threaten the livelihoods of hard-working farmers, and jeopardise the availability of fresh, healthy, and locally-grown food for shoppers. If farms continue to close, the British produce that customers know and love risks disappearing from your shelves altogether.”
One potato farmer said: “I’ve not grown for the major supermarkets for five years, and I would never go back. It cost me £25,000 to grow the crop – they just said ‘We don’t want them now’ – that was it, 60 metric tonnes of potatoes wasted.”
Kath Dalmeny, chief executive of Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming, said: “Many are thinking of leaving farming because it is such hard work for so little financial return, just when we need to increase production and consumption of sustainable fruit and veg.
“Government must step in and strengthen the rules so that more and better fruit and veg is available and affordable for all.”
A sustainable farming industry with more products grown in the UK could go some way to providing better food security and help the country avoid some of the large prices increases that have been seen over the past year.
Parents of young children have found themselves hit particularly hard by rocketing food prices.
Everyday essentials such as sugar, sweetcorn, butter, cheese, frozen burgers, canned tomatoes and cook-in-sauces have seen some of the biggest price hikes. Adding in the high cost of baby and toddler products such as nappies, wipes and baby milk has tipped many families over the edge.
A spokesperson for a Stratford-based charity which works with families and youngsters told the Herald: “Families are struggling because there are extra costs associated with having small children.”
UK inflation unexpectedly eased in August, according to official figures, but that simply means that prices are rising less quickly than before.
The cost of the weekly shop is still very difficult for many people to stomach.
