Growers have until the end of September to submit views or evidence to a Parliamentary inquiry into the UK’s food security and level of self-sufficiency.
The inquiry, by MPs on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee (EFRA), opened at the end of July in response to the current pressures growers and food businesses are facing, and to food price inflation. It will also examine whether the government’s proposals in its recently published national food strategy will improve resilience in the supply chain. Continuing impacts of Covid and the war in Ukraine will also be considered.
“The government is not responsible for all the problems facing food supply chains but it is essential it does all it can to help manage these pressures as it implements its new food strategy,” said newly-appointed EFRA chairman Robert Goodwill. “About three-quarters of the types of food we can produce in this country are supplied by our own farmers and growers. We want to start a debate about whether that’s the right level and what that means for how we use our land and the priority we put on food production.”
A report commissioned by the British Growers Association (BGA) has already revealed that the average rate of inflation for agricultural inputs hit 28% this spring, driven by massive increases in fuel, energy, labour, and fertiliser; and that brassica growers were reported to be planning to cut production by up to 20%.
“We commissioned the report to look at production costs, returns, and how to ensure UK production remains viable,” said BGA chief executive Jack Ward.
“It showed growers need a significant increase for their products to cover the inflationary effects on input costs and the financial impacts of the drought. In many instances, the retail price of vegetables is lower than it was five years ago despite five years of cost increases.
“In the last 12 months we have seen cost increases at retail of over 20% in other sectors (such as dairy and butter) yet the inflation in chilled veg is at 6.3% which means that growers and retailers are between them absorbing some of the extra production costs in an already fragile sector, a situation that cannot continue.”
Meanwhile, countryside charity CPRE warned at the end of July that building development also represents a major threat to food security. It says 14,500ha of the best grade agricultural land (grades 1-3a), capable of growing more than 250,000 tonnes of vegetables per year, has been lost to developers since 2010.
A further 1,400ha was taken out of agricultural production for renewable energy projects in the same period.
CPRE also points out that the most productive of remaining farmland is disproportionately at risk from flooding. Some 200,000ha, or 60% of grade 1 land, is categorised as flood zone 3, the highest risk.
Mr Ward said lack of returns is draining confidence out of the industry just when the UK needed to be investing in vegetable production. “Unless growers can see a way of securing viable returns for the risks they take in growing vegetables, they will turn to other lower risk options such as growing other less risky crops like wheat, sugar beet and energy crops or even converting more land to solar farms.
“We urgently need a reset in the way UK vegetable growers are rewarded to ensure the risks from weather and the inflationary costs are more equitably shared. We face global food security challenges and therefore need a properly funded.”
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