What we do

Food Security is a small group of concerned farmers who are working to raise awareness of the fragility of this country's agricultural industry and our ability to feed ourselves. We actively lobby MPs and other officials, both on a local basis and by travelling to meet them on their home ground.

There are now several hundred growers and members of the public on our mailing list, for which we produce regular newsletters detailing the latest developments in the industry and our own activities as part of the campaign.

We also endeavour to publicise any discussions on the topic in the farming or general press, in order to bring the debate into the open as much as possible.

For several years we worked to try to alert members of both Houses of Parliament and others in authority to the dangers of reducing our self-sufficiency, and in April 2006 we felt we must do something more.  We therefore put advertisements in several national newspapers, with astonishing results.  

We have had over 1000 phone calls to our info-line, not only from farmers or country people, but from all over the UK and from all manner of professions and walks of life.  We view the matter of food security as a defence issue affecting the whole population, rather than a matter of farmers’ livelihoods.  We are continuing to do what we can at Westminster and find a certain amount of encouragement.’

Food security in the public arena

Extract from evidence given on 30 April 2008 to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee by the Permanent Secretary of State at Defra

(Neither witnesses nor MPs have had the opportunity to correct this record)

'I think people use the term 'food security' in a variety of different ways. Sometimes it is used mean self-sufficiency - should the United Kingdom be self-sufficient in certain kinds of food -and this Government has consistently taken the view that in a free market world, given the trade flows that we have, the issue is not how much do we produce domestically but is there a ready supply of food available through the normal trading routes that we normally use?'

House of Commons Hansard, 4 June 2008

Mr James Paice (South east Cambridgeshire, Con.): 'Two and a half years ago, as Chancellor, the Prime Minister signed a policy statement, which said that domestic food production was neither necessary nor a sufficient condition for food security. Given all the meetings that he has had on the subject, does he still agree with that - yes or no?'

The Prime Minister: 'We are a trading nation and we benefit from our ability to trade with the rest of the world , and food imports and exports will always be part of what we do. I do not think that anybody believes that one country on its own, operating in a global economy, will produce all the kinds of foods that it needs. We should get a trade agreement so that we can get food prices down and deal with the food shortages by encouraging production in other parts of the world. We must also look at the eco-fuel issue, which many people have raised as being a diversion from food production, but we are part of a global economy and we should accept that as a reality.'