A debate was held yesterday in the House of Lords looking at the UK’s response to national and global food security problems. The debate, convened by Liberal Democrat Baroness Miller, looked at ways to achieve food security through improvements in agriculture and policy making.

The Lords were first told that the world faces a nexus of issues focused around worsening climate change, finite resources and population growth, which, it is estimated, will see the UK population rise to 70 million by the middle of this century.

Though the debate was less well attended than a debate on religion which preceded it, the attendant Lords, many of whom are actively involved in development or scientific research organisations, made varied contributions. Most statements concentrated on achieving world food security and addressing poverty.

Debating possible policy decisions which could address the problem, many Lords pointed out that current research has suggested that, contrary to the findings of government scientist John Beddington, waste is more pressing an issue than production. Research suggests that farmers currently produce enough food worldwide to adequately feed the nine billion people projected to be sharing the planet by 2050. The Lords suggested that, instead of focusing on increasing production and, by association, profit, which will further exploit fragile ecosystems, more should be done to eliminate waste in the supply chain and reduce impact on the environment to create resilient, self-sustaining systems.

Lords slam government response to food waste

Examining the problems the country faces, Lord Giddens said 40 per cent of available food is wasted in the UK, contributed to by waste-promoting deals and other supermarket policies as well as consumer waste. He said there is an urgent need to address this through education and regulation. The Lord proclaimed that attitudes to food need to change and supermarkets and fast food companies should take more responsibility for the environmental and social damage created by their advertising campaigns and business practices.    

Although government focus has very much been on domestic waste, with little pressure being put on commercial interests during the coalition government’s “business-friendly” policy announcements, the Lords challenged this business-centric view of policy, with Lord Giddens pointing out that less than half of the food wasted in the UK comes from consumers.

More waste is created through the ‘just in time supermarket model,’ which relies on the image of abundance and rejects misshapen fresh produce. He was joined by other Lords in calling for a reduction in the amount of food waste destined for landfill, where it creates methane, an incredibly powerful greenhouse gas. The Labour peer said more food that would otherwise be wasted should towards reducing the rising rates of food insecurity around the UK, and not into anaerobic digesters.

Education key to achieving food security, particularly in the West

The Lords called for education to focus on creating a healthy attitude to food and developing a sustainable diet. They wanted more research funding to enable farmers and others in the food chain to achieve this. Whilst over a billion of the world’s inhabitants currently suffer chronic hunger, another billion are obese and at risk of adverse health effects from their condition.

Curbing consumption and improving education also played prominent roles in two reports released last week, one by the UK government’s Environmental Audit Committee, and the other by renowned conservation organisation WWF. She said “What we waste is as important as what we eat.”

Several Lords echoed the WWF’s recent report findings, calling for changes in education to enable consumers to switch from heavily meat and dairy focused to a more plant based diet. Baroness Parminter called on the government to encourage local authorities to develop ‘food plans’ to reduce waste and improve diet and consumption patterns.

Food policy gurus including Tim Lang, London City University’s professor of food policy, have called on the government to develop a meaningful food policy addressing social and environmental concerns. The former hill farmer said in January that such a policy should contribute to bolstering production of fruit and vegetables and not “irresponsibly” ramping up meat and dairy production.

Divided opinions on GM

Whilst the Lords’ responses to many of the food policy questions raised in yesterday’s debate were more unified, opinions on genetic modification, which has become a hot topic once again this year, remained split. Whilst Lord Taverne expressed clear support for GM, Baroness Parminter criticised the view of GM as a ‘silver bullet’ and reiterated the Environmental Audit Committee’s calls for an independent body to investigate the crops and their impacts on non-GM systems.

She stated that, although the debate over GM has rekindled public interest in the technology, its actual position in achieving food security, if it is to have one at all, is a relatively minor one, with education, more equitable division of resources and effective knowledge sharing playing more integral roles.

The Lords called on governments and development agencies to improve access to knowledge and the benefits of research for farmers around the world, with several demanding to see more funds allocated to this end.

Lord Stern also criticised the UK government for failing to deliver all of the promised money to international agricultural development programmes and many of the Lords, including the host Baroness Miller condemned commodity speculation, which they said was contributing to rising food prices, jeopardising the food security of millions across the globe.

Defra minister Lord Taylor of Holbeach responded to the Lords’ questions on behalf of the UK government; he said the government is making moves towards food a definite food policy and would address many of the associated issues at the Rio +20 summit next month with other world leaders.

He went on to call for increased collaboration between farmers, particularly in the dairy industry, and said the government is currently working to facilitate the formation of cooperatives.

The Conservative Lord addressed the issue of food waste from the point of view of the public, stating that food wasted by consumers has fallen since 2006, but did not touch on the large amount of waste created by businesses. He also rebuffed the recommendations made by the Environment Audit Committee in asking Lords at the debate to deal with education and food policy separately; the committee called for a more joined-up approach to food from government, asking for issues of health, education and environment to be interlinked.  

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