As the 2015 NFU conference opens in Birmingham, union leaders have used a new report to call on the government to back their vision for UK farming.

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Focus on self-sufficiency 'unhelpful'

However, Dan Crossley, Executive Director of the Food Ethics Council, offered a more nuanced insight. Crossly said, "The Food Ethics Council agrees with the NFU that the government needs to look beyond the short-termist electoral cycle and focus on a long term future for farming.

“However, we believe that a focus on self-sufficiency is unhelpful, as it suggests that food security challenges can be solved simply by promoting production efficiencies - farming ‘more with less’ - whilst battening down the hatches.

“We believe that developing resilient food and farming systems that work in harmony with food producers across the globe, securing a sustainable future for farmers everywhere, is a better solution.”

As touched on by NFU’s Minette Batters, the Food Ethics Council Director added that an integrated approach to food is needed to deliver benefits for all, and said this is set out in the Square Meal report, which was written by the Council and nine other organisations. Crossley urged, “Let’s celebrate sustainable food and farming, in the UK and beyond.”

Though NFU’s report may cause alarm bells to ring, a 7 percent decline in self-sufficiency over a 25 year period begins to look like a relatively small crisis, when compared to studies last year which showed Britain’s soils may only have 100 harvests left in them, unless concerted action is taken to improve soil health. One example of “poorly crafted regulation” that was scrapped last year - with the help of NFU lobbying - is the EU Soils Directive, which would have offered protection for soils, classing them as a non-renewable resource.