Launching an initiative that it hopes will increase support for farmers, the NFU has claimed the UK's self sufficiency is falling, and called on consumers and government to reverse the trend.

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The farming union has raised the issue before; in 2011 NFU president Peter Kendall called on retailers to reduce the UK's dependency on food imports, claiming the country's self-sufficiency of 'indigenous' products (foodstuffs that can ostensibly be grown here) had dropped dramatically since the 1980s.  

The NFU launched its campaign on Wednesday August 14th, using a thought experiment to underline its message; the union had calculated that, as the UK is currently estimated to produce 62 per cent of all food consumed here, if the country were isolated from the beginning of the year then food supplies would have run out on Wednesday.

NFU leaders said they are "determined to reverse this trend" and maintained "farmers are ready to rise to the challenge to produce more food sustainably." The union is launching a Charter and looking for the public, politicians and food industry groups to sign, pledging their support for the British farming industry.

NFU President Peter Kendall said on Wednesday, "To think that today's date would signal the time when our domestic food supply runs out is frankly alarming. It says to me that we must act. As an industry we have had a challenging decade but the realisation has dawned that as a nation we can't simply go around the world chasing the cheapest deal for our food."

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Overall figures cloud actual food security situation

However, official figures paint a more complex picture of Britain's self-sufficiency. While Defra figures do show that UK food security appears to have peaked in the early 1980s, the country currently produces more of its own food than it did in the 1960s, and the fluctuating pattern already appears to be on the upswing. In 2009, Britain's overall self-sufficiency fell below 60 percent, though more recent data show that this has since risen.

Rethinking Britain's Food Security, a report released by organic farm group the Soil Association, also looked at the UK in its European context. As well as pointing out that overall self-sufficiency figures mask wide variations between food types, "and also hide the extent to which foods ostensibly produced in the UK depend on imported inputs such as energy or animal feedstuffs," the Soil Association pointed out "the UK has depended on food imports to meet the needs of its population for more than a century."

The clear majority of the UK's food imports come from within the EU, and, as the Soil Association shows, the EU as a whole has a high level of food self-sufficiency. Imported livestock feed is one clear exception to this pattern.  

One worrying example of overall statistics masking high variations between different food types is fruit production; the UK's horticultural area fell in 2012 and fruit production was hit particularly hard by the challenging summer weather. Domestic fruit production in 2012 fell to ten percent of national consumption, a dip from the three-year average of 12 percent. There is a suggestion that increasing production of cash crops may be having a grave impact on 'real terms' food security.

Speaking at the Oxford Real Farming Conference in 2012, former upland farmer and respected food policy professor from London City University's Centre for Food policy Tim Lang said that, if policy makers are serious about food security, radical changes need to be made to maintain production of healthy foods, reduce the environmental impact of food production and promote more equitable distribution. Professor Lang said, "A good thing for UK food security would be to turn your pig farm into a horticulture farm. We need less farming, more horticulture. More plants, less animals. Exciting things are already happening; in towns people are growing, people are engaging with horticulture projects in urban areas."

NFU calls for R&D support

On Wednesday, Peter Kendall said more research funding could bolster domestic production. He stated, "We have the right technologies to produce more from less with precision farming helping 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."

Kendall continued, "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. We have all learned the lessons of long, complex supply chains and retailers are all telling me that they want to work with British farmers to ensure their shelves are stocked with more British produce."

The NFU has asked members of the public to contact their local supermarket, restaurant, or MP to demand an increase in procurement policies that back British food production. Those wishing to show their support can sign the NFU's newly launched pledge. 

However, Ben Reynolds from Sustain, a group that advocates equitable and environmentally sound food production, questioned whether the NFU's latest campaign would prove effective. He told Farming Online on Wednesday, "We agree with the general line of the NFU's call – the fact that retailers are stocking overseas products while they are in season here is morally questionable. However, I am unsure whether a pledge would amount to much.

"This issue is not a new one and major retailers have not been forthcoming or supportive on the whole [of drives to source more domestic produce]. There is also a danger that this initiative could easily be watered down into a voluntary commitment, when historically these haven't proved successful."

Reynolds was also concerned that the NFU's demands stop short of seeking solid commitments from retailers and government. Mr Reynolds continued, "The NFU is asking for action on government buying standards, which currently only apply to a third of public sector procurement. This is a good thing, but their calls could be more specific."

Lastly, although he restated his overall support for the NFU's call for greater self-sufficiency, Mr Reynolds added, "We do make the caveat that this shouldn't be at the cost of the environment; we shouldn't achieve this increase through farming that damages the environment or animal welfare."