Urgent action needed as 3.4m households struggled to afford food
Richard Griffiths, chief executive of the British Poultry Council writes about the key role the sector plays in feeding the nation.
THE exasperating part of writing BPC’s ‘2024 and Beyond’ report was realising our asks would already have been implemented in a system where food is politically valued. Our industry’s priorities for the next electoral term will set the foundations for a healthy British poultry sector.
Yet these visions – on su cient food, trade, avian influenza, welfare and environment, and a skilled workforce - are nothing we have not said before, and other sectors are saying similar.
This highlights the urgency for action. Tackling the business-critical issues defining this era of British food production does not mean reinventing the wheel, but it does require reshaping the landscape.
Amplifying what we already know to be true – that food, specifically poultry meat, is our chance to not only do the right thing in a situation but change the situation itself.
When you remember that 3.4m households have reported not having enough money for food in the last year, inaction is unthinkable.
Our asks capture the needs of poultry meat producers, who are feeding people and tackling the inequalities that define a changing climate.
They set out industry’s broader goals, our place in society and ambitions for a food system rooted in confidence, agility, and foresight.
To this end, we believe that making a sustainable food system work is about making food work.
We need to find balance in self-su ciency, yet we have a government that while emphasising domestic production has created an environment for it to do anything but thrive. The most reliable source of food is what we produce at home. If we want to produce more of it, the only rules should be that it is safe, aordable, and nutritious, and the systems producing it as low impact as possible.
This is criteria that is not entirely unfamiliar to our industry – BPC members play a vital role in feeding people, tackling inequalities with safe and aordable food, while reducing inputs and impacts.
We need to find balance with nature. If people and planet are reciprocal, then food is the point where they connect.
Making nature visible means we acknowledge our dependence on it, underscoring the urgency of adapting to and mitigating the eects of climate change.
A sustainable food system will get us to a place where we can tackle the inequalities that define climate change. Supporting environment through food production is about recognising its value to our social, economic, and business landscapes.
We need to find a balanced economy that unlocks investment in service of setting out a vision for a system that feeds people, tackles inequalities with highstandard aordable food and promotes a liveable climate for all. If we get that right, the win is a society that doesn’t waste potential – from human to economic.
Tackling economic inequality is at the core of a sustainable food system, so poultry meat businesses must be given the confidence to increase investment and capacity to make that happen.
We need to find balance in skills, opportunities, and mobility.
There is no shying away from a drop in output and productivity that is linked to an inadequate immigration policy and Government failure to invest in skills and development.
Discourse about skills must be embedded into a wider conversation on productivity, self-su ciency, and what we want food to achieve for our country.
Only by actively engaging on skills can we hope to navigate the evolving landscape of food production.
So nothing new but all ever more urgent if we want an agile, e cient, and a long-term sustainable British poultry meat industry.