COULD THE UK FEED ITSELF?

● The UK grows 54 per cent of its own food while around half of what we import comes from climatevulnerable nations. As the world heats up, can the UK simply grow crops that find our new climate favourable, as well as the exotic fruits we currently import? If only it were that simple. Some benefits are possible. A 2016 report by the now-defunct Living With Environmental Change network found that UK food production in cool, wet upland areas may benefit from warmer and drier conditions. Warmer temperatures will increase the length of growing seasons and may increase production of sugar beet and leafy vegetables.

Switching the sourcing of oranges – from Spain to Brazil, for example – is possible in theory but in practice would not only displace the problem but drive an increase in the price of the fruit, says Tom Lancaster, farming and land use lead at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit.

While the UK isn’t yet projected to face the same severe heat impacts as southern Europe, it remains vulnerable, particularly in the south and southeast, where the majority of the best soils are located. In addition, Lancaster says:

‘We still don’t know how our climate will change and what will become the new normal. Even if our climate does warm to the point that we can grow new commodities outside in the UK, it will take time to develop the skills, methods and supply chains needed to cultivate them at scale.

‘If the government were serious about it, you could, with some effort, marginally increase some domestic food production,’ he continues. ‘But we are never going to be able to grow avocadoes, oranges, bananas at scale. There’s not a great deal of strategic thinking going on.

The government could invest in bigger and modern glasshouses located in areas that can make use of waste heat. We could do with plans for greater water storage on farms, grow cover crops [such as legumes and grasses] that provide shade and moisture.’