EFRA food security report – NFU response

The NFU is pleased that the Government has recognised the strong desire of the British public to buy British food and the need to secure a long-term future for food production in this country.

The comments come following the publication of the Government’s response to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs report “Food security: demand, consumption and waste” yesterday.

NFU head of policy Andrea Graham said: “With the UK currently only producing 60 per cent of the nation’s food needs, this is a timely, welcome and sensible response from the Government, which clearly recognises that more must be done to reverse this trend.

“We are pleased that it has recognised the need to allow our industry to take advantage of emerging technologies to extend the British growing season for horticulture; the importance of promoting our world class products to consumers; and that consumers must be given better labelling so they can make more informed decisions about what they buy, especially when they have told us they want more British food on their plates. False, misleading and confusing labels simply serve to undermine consumer confidence. We are also supportive of the Government’s work towards increasing exports to China with a memorandum of understanding and we look forward to this export market opening up in the near future.

“We know that 77 per cent of people think Government should focus more on creating policies that help UK farmers to increase the amount of food Britain produces. That’s why the NFU has recently published its own report calling for the Government to set a long-term ambition for the sector’s growth with policies aligned to send the right business signals to the UK’s farmers in times as challenging as now, as well as in the future. “