Food security has been high on the news and political agenda in the past year and consumers have said they are increasingly more likely to buy more traceable food produced on British farms.


The NFU recently highlighted the fact that Britain’s 62 per cent self-sufficiency rate would mean our nation’s food – when measured over a single calendar year –would run out on August 14. The NFU is determined to reverse this trend and has launched a Back British charter aimed at getting the public, politicians and food industry to pledge their support.


But the message runs deeper than that – we can’t simply go around the world chasing the cheapest deal for our food. We need to look closer to home, where our farmers and growers have a fantastic natural capacity to produce more British food, given the right market signals and the confidence to invest. We have the right technologies to produce more food, more sustainably. For example, precision farming can help to target fertiliser and crop protection products within centimetres; laser technology can even pinpoint an individual weed, improving accuracy and efficiency. Crops grown under cover help to lengthen the season for our British fruits. But there is more to do to empower our farmers to enable them to make the most of our natural resources and feed our growing nation.


I want to know our government is really getting to grips with its food vision and ensuring that sustainable, productive farming is across all government departments. Let’s create an environment which really means farming businesses can invest. Let’s address market failure and iron out volatility to enable the entire food chain to grow supply.

We have all learned the lessons of long, complex supply chains and retailers say they want to work with British farmers to ensure their shelves are stocked with more British produce. We currently import around £37.6bn of food and drink. We are a trading nation, of course, but at a time of economic uncertainty a strong food producing industry is essential.