Retail bosses demand targets to boost British-grown food

Britain’s biggest supermarkets have warned that drought, wildfires and geopolitical disruption are putting food supplies at risk, as they call for legally binding targets to increase domestic fruit and vegetable production.

The warning was first reported by The Telegraph, which said the chief executives of Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Aldi and the Co-op had written to Prime Minister Andy Burnham urging the government to introduce a Good Food Bill.

The coalition said British fruit and vegetable production had fallen by 16% since 2015, while imports now accounted for 78% of supply.

It also warned that at least half of imported fruit and vegetables came from countries facing extreme water scarcity.

The proposed legislation would set targets to increase the proportion of fruit and vegetables grown in Britain by 2040, with supporters arguing that this could give farmers and growers greater certainty to invest in crops, infrastructure and climate resilience.

The intervention follows severe weather affecting agriculture across Britain and Europe.

Wildfires in France and Spain have damaged farmland and left some crops unable to be harvested, while drought has been declared across half of England after exceptionally low rainfall and high temperatures.

July has so far delivered just 7% of expected rainfall across England and only 1% in southern areas.

Farms are already reporting early cereal harvests, lower yields in some crops and a greater risk of field fires.

Writing in The Telegraph, Tesco chief executive Ken Murphy and Food Foundation executive director Anna Taylor said recent conditions had exposed weaknesses in domestic production and international supply chains.

“Recent years have brought extreme weather across Europe and the UK – from wildfires and droughts to exceptionally wet winters and unusually dry springs – disrupting harvests, supply chains and domestic food production,” they wrote.

They said the pressure was being compounded by continuing strain on household budgets and argued that the UK needed a food system capable of delivering both resilience and healthy diets.

Sainsbury’s chief executive Simon Roberts said recent events showed the scale of the challenge.

“Recent weeks have shown just how much pressure our food system is under,” he said.

“We need a more resilient food system that attracts investment, backs British farmers and helps keep affordable, nutritious food on tables across the nation.”

The proposed Good Food Bill would require local authorities to develop plans for maintaining food supplies during extreme weather and other emergencies.

Ministers would also have to consider food security when making decisions involving farming, trade, planning, health, education and the environment.

Further targets would seek to reduce childhood obesity, increase fruit and vegetable consumption among children and tackle household food insecurity.

Campaigners also want public bodies to be given a duty to improve access to healthy and affordable food, with progress reported independently to Parliament.

The letter was drafted by the Food Foundation and backed by more than 100 organisations, including retailers, charities, health groups and food manufacturers such as Danone and Greencore.

The coalition also linked geopolitical disruption to rising input costs, claiming fertiliser prices had increased by 40% over the past year.

“Each new shock lands on a food system with less capacity to absorb it,” the letter warned.

“The next food shock is not a question of if, but when.”

The signatories said responsibility for food policy remained spread across too many government departments, making it harder to respond to connected pressures involving farming, trade, public health and climate resilience.

“To meet it prepared, food has to stop being an afterthought for the government: we need mechanisms to put food high on the priority list,” they said.

The coalition wants the government to introduce the bill during this parliament, arguing that long-term production targets would support investment by British growers and reduce the country’s vulnerability to future food shocks.