UK households ‘not equipped to deal with volatility on food prices’
CLIMATE change is leading to food price volatility and British households are not equipped to cope, campaigners have warned ahead of the Government’s second Farm to Fork summit next week.
It comes as a York arable farmer said weather conditions over recent months were “unprecedented”, leading to him planting far less wheat and barley.
David Blacker, who farms at Church Farm, north of York, said: “In my farming life I have never known it be so wet for so long.
“Those who didn’t plant before autumn have not had an opportunity at all to plant a crop. Normally you get a chance in autumn or spring. There was a window in September, but by October it had gone.”
Mr Blacker, whose main crop over the winter was wheat, said he would normally have 600 to 700 plants per square metre, but this was down to about 300. He planned to plant 200 hectares in spring with barley or beans but has had to cut this down to five hectares.
“I’ve drawn the line under any profit-making crop. But growing nothing isn’t good for the soil. I have plans to plant a temporary cover crop, just to drag some moisture out of the soil.
“That obviously has a knock-on effect on profit. There’s zero return on that.”
“We’ll feel the financial knock-on effects for 18 months, and that’s providing things return to normal.”
Yesterday, speaking at a media briefing ahead of the Farm to Fork summit, Food Foundation executive director Anna Taylor said the “failures” of the current food system were being felt by both farmers and consumers.
She said: “Inflation may be out of the news but a basic food basket remains 25 per cent higher than it was two years ago and wages have not kept pace. The result is eight million adults and three million children living in food insecurity and struggling to put food on the table.
BRITAIN could have its hottest day of the year yet over the weekend.
Forecasters said temperatures could reach 26C in some parts.
Yesterday in Yorkshire, the highest temperatures were in the south, with Sheffield hitting 21C.
The Met Office said the weather would be warm, sunny and dry, with any showers brief and isolated.
Parts of the South-East are expected to reach a maximum of 26C tomorrow, beating the current record this year of 23.4C in Santon Downham in Suffolk, with temperatures across the country substantially warmer than their seasonal averages.
Amy Bokota, senior operational meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “It’s already been quite warm but as we head on through the week I’m expecting it to slowly climb, day on day.”
She added: “For the UK as a whole, for the early part of May, the average daytime temperature is around 16C, so it’s quite a bit above average.”
Next week will bring unsettled weather, the Met Office said, as temperatures cool and an area of low pressure from the Atlantic brings scattered showers and possible thunderstorms as early as Sunday afternoon.
“We’ll likely see temperatures back into the high teens, perhaps low twenties in a few spots, but certainly a few degrees less,” Ms Bokota said.