‘We want home produced food’ government told

THE public have given their overwhelming backing to farmers leaders’ calls for Britain to improve the proportion of local food it produces.

More than 54,000 people signed a letter to Environment Secretary George Eustice – the MP for Cambore and Redruth – in support of NFU calls for a commitment to not allow Britain’s food production to slip below its current level of 60% self-sufficiency.

The surge of support in just two weeks has seen tens of thousands of people urge Mr Eustice and the government to secure the future of Britain’s ability to feed itself.

They also back a call to use the UK’s self-sufficiency measure as a key metric in its report on food security, which is due to be published this year.

NFU President Minette Batters said: “The amount of people who have signed our open letter to George Eustice in such a short space of time should send a very strong signal to government on how highly the British public value quality, sustainably produced British food, and the importance of having a resilient British food and farming sector.

“In 1984, the UK’s overall food self-sufficiency was 78%. In 2021, it is 60%. It becomes more and more challenging to be global leaders in climate-friendly food if we allow our own production levels to drop.

“We have seen in recent weeks just how fragile our food supply chains can be – particularly highlighted by the ongoing workforce shortages experienced by certain sectors of the economy, including the food and farming sectors in picking, packing, processing and distributing food.

“This year, for the first time, government has to report on Britain’s food security as part of the new Agriculture Act.

“We want ministers across Whitehall to have a greater ambition in promoting British food at home and abroad to aid Britain’s food security.

“Through this open letter to George Eustice, farmers and the public alike are calling on government to take immediate action and commit to not allowing our self-sufficiency levels to fall any further and take every opportunity to increase them.”

Last month TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson, whose hit show on Amazon TV showed him working as a farmer in Oxfordshire, threw his weight behind the NFU campaign to increase Britain’s self-sufficiency in food. The Top Gear host, who turned to farming his land himself when his farm manager quit, spoke at a Westminister event hosted by the NFU to mark Back British Farming day.

He said the country has a Ministry of Defence so that if it was attacked it was able to defend itself.

“We can none of us see that happening, we can’t see the Germans coming across the Channel or the Chinese, but we still maintain a significant air force, army and navy.

“Surely if you’re going to maintain that level of defence to protect us, you would want to protect our food supply.”

He said 60% self-sufficiency was “right at the bottom of the end of where you want to go, I think it should be much more like 80%, we’re capable of it, we’ve got the right climate, we have the right soil, we could easily do it”.

He added: “It should be as much encouragement as possible from the Government to the farmers to actually get it back up a bit.

“It’s like saying if we had no army, and no navy and no air force, chances are we’re not going to get attacked – but we might... You have to look after the farmers who provide the food.”

Guy Harrop