Prince of Wales ‘out of touch’ with food security threat – CPA

The Crop Protection Association has expressed dismay at the Prince of Wales’ continued vilification of modern farming practices, describing his views as ’out of touch’ with the enormous challenge of securing the world’s future food needs.

Delivering the prestigious Richard Dimbleby Lecture earlier this month, Prince Charles criticised the use of ’heavily industrialised, chemically-based farming techniques’ which came, he said, ’at a huge and unsustainable cost to ecosystems, through massive use of artificial fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides and water.’

Dominic Dyer, chief executive of the Crop Protection Association, said the Prince’s comments reflected the prejudices of the past, and failed to recognise the enormous progress made by the farming industry to strike a sensible balance between productivity and environmental protection.

"Everyone can agree with the Prince of Wales that we need to protect natural resources and prevent the damaging, irreversible effects of practices such as deforestation," said Mr Dyer.

"But we cannot ignore the consequences of not producing enough food – in terms of widespread famine, war and political conflict. Last year’s soaring grain prices and food riots were a wake up call for the international community – food security is the most basic necessity of all.

"Surprisingly, global food security was not a prominent theme of the Prince’s lecture, other than to acknowledge the adoption of Western consumption patterns in the developing world. Yet our ability to feed a growing world population in the face of climate change and declining land and water availability is perhaps the most significant challenge we face.

"Modern crop protection will continue to play a crucial role. Use of pesticides today cannot be judged by the prejudices of 30 or 40 years ago. Significant progress has been made to research and develop safer, more environmentally benign products that are target-specific, degrade quickly and do not accumulate in the food chain. Responsible stewardship by the farming industry ensures that pesticides are used safely and effectively in the farmed environment.

"Global food consumption has outstripped production in seven of the past nine years, leaving emergency grain stocks at their lowest level for decades. Every four seconds, the world has an extra ten mouths to feed. FAO recently revised the number of malnourished people around the world upwards to more than 1 billion – one sixth of humanity.

"These frightening statistics are the reason society needs to re-think its attitude towards modern, science-based agriculture," said Mr Dyer.

"Technological innovation will play a vital role in delivering the required step change in agricultural production – not only through increased physical yields, but also through the adoption of smarter farming methods, using inputs with greater precision, and applying techniques which help reduce emissions and conserve natural resources."