UK too dependent on fruit and veg imports, says Sunak

Business@inews.co.uk

The UK needs to reduce its reliance on overseas fruit and vegetables and back British producers, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will tell his Farm to Fork summit today.

The second in a series of annual talks will include the publication of the first UK Food Security Index, which would “ensure the Government and [the food] sector is resilient to unexpected shocks to the market and extreme weather”, Downing Street said. The Prime Minister is to tell British farmers and growers that they are “vital to the security and the fabric of our country”.

The index will set out how the Government will track UK-wide food security on an annual basis, monitoring domestic food production, land use, input costs and farmer productivity.

Downing Street said this year’s index would show that the UK farming sector was at its most productive since records began.

But it will also highlight that the country produces the equivalent of just 17 per cent of the fruit and 55 per cent of vegetables ending up on British plates, significantly behind meat, dairy and grains.

Mr Sunak will also announce a new horticulture resilience and growth offer, which will aim to double the funding given to horticulture businesses,

A study by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit estimated that extreme weather will reduce the UK’s ability to feed itself by nearly a tenth of what it is now.

taking it to £80m a year, including up to £10m available to help English orchard growers access equipment, technology and infrastructure. He will also promise to cut red tape around the building of glasshouses and invest a further £15m to boost access to more resilient crop varieties that require fewer inputs and cut farmer costs.

It will be confirmed that a commissioner for the tenant farming sector will be appointed in the autumn, as will a new supply chain adjudicator.

It comes against a backdrop of challenges for farmers, from an unprecedented wet winter which hit harvests to trading delays and ongoing high input costs.

The past 18 months have been the wettest on record in England, and have included the second-wettest six months in the UK.

The PM will say farmers are ‘vital to the security and fabric of our country’ Mr Sunak will say: “This package of support will help farmers produce more British food, delivers on our long-term plan to invest in rural communities and ensures the best home-grown products end up on our plates.”

The Environment Secretary, Steve Barclay, will emphasise how the summit is bringing “together Government and key representatives from the farming and food sector”.