Defra has sent the UK's largest ever food trade delegation to China in the hope of "filling a £1 billion hole in the British economy" by stimulating export demand for dairy products. 'Emerging markets' including China are providing lucrative export markets for a number of commodities from Europe, mostly 'resource-dense' animal products and luxury foods.

image expired

However, although the export markets are providing income for UK exporters, food policy experts have raised concerns that such a model is hampering the UK’s ability to create a sustainable food system.

China is consuming significantly more Western-style milk, cheese, and yogurt, and Defra said on Monday (12th November) that Britain can help supply that demand; the department said there is a huge potential for growth both at home and abroad for the UK dairy industry.

Environment secretary Owen Paterson is in China with a British delegation and will meet with dairy companies, trade associations, industry experts and retailers in Shanghai over the course of the week. In addition to dairy products, the delegation will be promoting tea, desserts, beer, meat and confectionery produced by British companies.

A record number of small- and medium-sized British businesses will be in Shanghai to sell their produce to 30,000 importers at the giant Food and Hotel China exhibition.

Mr Paterson commented on Monday, "From chocolate to cheddar, China’s population is getting a taste for dairy, and Britain's world-class food industry can supply that demand. I’ll be helping British businesses grab the opportunity with both hands, so our country competes and thrives in the global race."

Experts question government approach to food

Defra maintains that the UK has room to significantly expand production while other EU countries are restricted by milk quotas until 2015. The food industry remains the UK's largest manufacturing sector.

However, food policy experts have expressed reservations over the government's readiness to spend public money on finding export markets for private companies selling resource dense, intensively produced luxury food at a time when domestic food insecurity is increasing.

Food experts have called for changes to government food policy to create a more equitable and long-term sustainable food system, involving shorter supply chains that act in the interests of both producers and consumers and create responsive, durable local economies. This includes shifting the focus of production towards horticulture in many areas.

Former hill farmer and Professor of Food Policy at City University, London commented that the government's fixation with food export drives echoes previous ill-advised schemes engineered by the last Conservative government, including Food From Britain, delivered by Lord Heseltine; Defra withdrew funding for FFB in 2008.

Professor Lang commented on the drives, "For decades, there has been a fantasy within government that more exports will be a panacea for the massive food trade gap. While appreciating the hard work of and by exporters, the financial drain the trade gap continues to make will only be addressed if more food is grown more sustainably and consumed here.

"Basically, the UK's food system is unduly parasitic on the planet and other countries' land and labour. We need to shift to an ecologically sound food policy. This is not happening. A few niche products is not the same thing as a sustainable food system. Alas, business logic still pursues cheapness above all other criteria. This is folly. It’s partly why the UK's food footprint is so lamentably high."

Towards a sustainable food policy

The Food Ethics Council has also called for a cohesive food policy. Echoing calls made in the summer by the government's Environmental Audit Committee, which oversees government policy and assesses it in terms of sustainability and environmental impact, the Food Ethics Council demanded a number of fundamental changes to government regulation. It identified a number of areas where change is needed in order to create a more equitable, sustainable food policy.

These include:

• Acknowledging the EAC's recommendation that competition policy needs to be revised to allow businesses to collaborate to promote sustainable food.
• Increasing understanding of the interplay between supply, demand, waste, efficiency and population rather than simply promoting 'sustainable intensification' (increasing production of the same foods) as an answer to questions of food security. FEC believes "The more successful we are in these [aforementioned] areas, the less we will need to increase yields."
• Expanding responsibility for healthy eating and sustainable food from the consumer, who is often easily influenced and relatively passive, onto the government, institutions and the market. The problems of healthy and sustainable food are structural and must be addressed as such. FEC maintains "Government should seek to change markets and institutions, not just individuals."
• Working with business leaders to provide a clear sense of direction from government, in order to plan and invest. FEC said businesses had reported that consumers need help in understanding what sustainable food means in practice. The Council said current government policy does not provide help to either group.

Food Ethics Council spokesperson Liz Barling commented on government food policy, "The Coalition government talks the talk on sustainable food, but the jury is out on whether they will walk the walk. A truly joined-up approach to a sustainable food system would include long-term goals that provide the strategic framework for a fair, healthy and sustainable food for people and planet.

"Business wants strong leadership, consumers need clear guidance on how to eat sustainably, and environmental groups require reassurance that our natural environment won’t play second fiddle in the rush to increase food production."

Tweet