The UK must radically transform the way it produces and consumes food if it is to avoid a cycle of escalating crises, a major report has warned.
The authors say action is needed on a scale not seen since the Second World War to safeguard food security, protect public health and meet climate targets.
The Roadmap for Resilience: A UK Food Plan for 2050 argues that urgent reform is essential to reboot the economy, reduce pressure on the NHS and prevent repeated shocks from rising food prices, supply chain disruption and climate disasters.
Coordinated by the Agri-Food for Net Zero (AFN) Network+ and informed by 150 scientists and industry experts, the report calls for transformation in three areas: stronger farming systems, smarter land use and healthier diets.
“Achieving this transformation has the power to deliver a food system where everyone in the UK has access to healthy and sustainable food,” said Professor Neil Ward of the University of East Anglia, who co-led the project.
“Through these three transformations we can reduce pressure on the NHS and help people lead healthier and more economically active lives. Nature will flourish, emissions will fall and farming will be more resilient and secure for future generations.”
The authors warn that poor diets already cost the UK economy £268bn a year in healthcare and lost productivity. Meanwhile, 7.2 million people now live in food-insecure households — an 80% rise in just three years. By the 2040s, they predict, food could become the single largest source of UK emissions.
Reliance on imports further weakens UK food resilience, with half of vegetables and 85% of fruit brought in from overseas.
Professor Ward said: “Pressures from climate change, global shocks and poor diets mean significant change to our food system is inevitable over the next 50 years. Our window to act is narrow though – if we do not, change will be forced on us by crisis.”
The Roadmap sets out ten actions for government, including placing food security on a par with energy security, reforming subsidies to prioritise emissions reduction and biodiversity, setting national dietary targets, and establishing a National Food System Transformation Committee reporting directly to the Prime Minister.
Specific proposals include expanding woodland cover from 14% to at least 20% of UK land by 2050, restoring peatlands and helping farmers diversify into more fruit, vegetables and wholegrains to reduce reliance on imports.
Professor Tim Benton, co-lead of AFN Network+, added: “Every year of delay makes transformation harder and more costly. Change is coming to our food system, but how we shape it is our choice to make.”
The report, which took three years to complete, is the product of the AFN Network+, a UKRI-funded project with more than 3,000 members, led by a consortium of 11 universities and research institutes.
