Call for farmers to take the lead and grow healthy eating agenda
BRITISH FARMERS could play a key role in promoting better public health by adapting to recent radical changes in diet, according to a rural policy expert.
Professor Michael Winter said agricultural practice and policy should take account of new trends in the way people cook and eat.
The current interest in health foods could allow farmers to increase production of pulses, cereals, fruit and vegetables, the Exeter University academic said.
He believes that more must be done to ensure the UK has “nutritional security” and that this should be seen as a “public good” for which farmers should be rewarded for financially.
Yorkshire grower Guy Poskitt, however, said that price, not healthy choices, was still the prevailing factor behind shoppers’ habits and that the financial reality for farms is that they are commercial businesses that react to market demand.
Prof Winter spoke out as he launched his Changing Food Cultures: Challenges and Opportunities for UK Agriculture report, which recommends that more is done to help encourage people to work in agriculture and to improve the skills of existing farmers.
He argued: “Farmers should be proactive, helping to create a new food culture which nourishes and sustains health and wellbeing, building further on UK farmers’ proven ability to produce safe, nutritious and affordable food in response to market demand.
“As demand changes, UK farmers need to respond with confidence to the concerns and opportunities in our changing society.
“Human health should take centre stage when society is making policy decisions about food and agriculture.
“I’m optimistic that this shift will take place, but of course farmers will need support through Brexit as new government policies emerge designed to ensure a strong, sustainable, competitive and food health-oriented industry.”
In his report, he claims there is potential for farmers to expand production of soft fruit, apples, pears and plums, nuts and many vegetables but this may mean farmers and agricultural workers need to become more skilled at using technology such as robotics, imaging and nutrient modelling.
Prof Winter admitted that any reforms need to consider the challenges to agriculture caused by Britain’s exit from the EU.
He said: “The challenges facing UK agriculture are uneven productivity and its dependence on CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) payments. Any ask of UK farmers to respond to food cultural shifts and to the health agenda requires a proper appreciation of the industry and the difficulties it faces. Merely to heap yet more ‘demands’ on a beleaguered sector without such an understanding is inappropriate and unhelpful.”
Kellington-based grower Mr Poskitt said Prof Winter must not ignore that farmers make commercial decisions and they will grow what makes them money.
He said: “There has to be leadership from the front, education to get younger generations saying this is what they need to eat to be healthy and that in turn will create the market demand.
“If you look at who are the fastest growing retailers, they are the cheapest. That tells me that price is the most important factor when it comes to the weekly shop, not healthy choices.”
Farmers should help to create a new food culture. Professor Michael Winter, rural policy expert at the University of Exeter.