Food strategy must support sustainability while addressing climate change

THE Government recently published its long-awaited food strategy, the importance of which has been brought into even stronger focus by the events in Ukraine. This has led to questions over food security, and the rapid inflation we have seen in recent months means that many poorer members of our society are facing the very real dilemma of whether they can afford to both heat their homes and eat.

The headline objectives of the Government’s strategy are to deliver: ■ a prosperous agri-food and seafood sector that ensures a secure food supply in an unpredictable world and contribute to the Government’s levelling up agenda through good quality jobs around the country

■ a sustainable, nature-positive, affordable food system that provides choice and access to high quality products that support healthier and home-grown diets for all

■ trade that provides export opportunities and consumer choice through imports, without compromising the UK’s regulatory standards for food, whether produced domestically or imported.

To achieve these objectives the Government will seek to:

■ broadly maintain the current level of food production domestically, including sustainably boosting production in sectors where there are post-Brexit opportunities, including horticulture and seafood

■ ensure that by 2030 pay, employment and productivity, as well as completion of high-quality skills training will have risen in the agrifood industry in every area of the UK ■ halve childhood obesity by 2030, reducing the healthy life expectancy (HLE) gap between local areas where it is highest and lowest by 2030, adding five years to HLE by 2035 and reducing the proportion of the population living with diet-related illnesses; and to support this, increasing the proportion of healthier food sold

■ reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the environmental impacts of the food system, in line with the Government’s net-zero commitments and biodiversity targets and preparing for the risks from a changing climate

■ contribute to the Government’s export strategy goal to reach £1 trillion of exports annually by 2030 and support more UK food and drink businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, to take advantage of new market access and free trade agreements post-Brexit

■ maintain high standards for food consumed in the UK, wherever it is produced.

These are all laudable aims, but Henry Dimbleby, the author of an independent report on the National Food Strategy, which was produced for the Government last year, said the latest policy document was not detailed enough to be called a strategy.

Launching the policy when speaking from a Cornish farm, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was, “supporting great British farming” and putting money into modernisation and innovation.

This was welcomed by farm leaders, but the Wildlife Trusts said the Government had broken its promise to restore nature at scale. The conservation group, WWF, said making UK farming “good for climate and nature” was the only way to “fix a broken food system to ensure healthy, affordable, sustainable food is available for everyone, now and for generations to come”.

So, it seems the Government’s food strategy is considered “good in parts” but the proof of the pudding will be in its delivery to support a sustainable farming sector producing food at the same time as looking after the environment, addressing climate change and providing quality and affordable nourishment for all.

James Stephen Carter Jonas