UK Farming Today

40% of our food is imported, and this is likely to increase. Agriculture has been described as the last major production industry in the UK, and it appears to be going the way of all the others. As a country, our self-sufficiency is rapidly declining. For example, we produce
- 35% less beef
- 25% less lamb
- 35% less pork
than we did 10 years ago.

Our food trade deficit is at least £13 billion. Can we trust fragile trading relationships, which this country relies on for food security? What if those who send us food turn against us? Or need it for themselves .. or international crisis disrupts supply?

In 1985 there were 28,000 dairy farmers in England and Wales. By the end of 2006 there were 13,000. In the year to September 2006, 942 dairy farmers quit. A further 31% plan to leave within two years.

The facts are well documented and all-too familiar to many in the industry. Cost of production of milk is around 21p per litre but the price paid to the farmer, although having gone up from around 18p per litre to around 24p, is still far from enough for reinvestment in the industry. Also, what would happen if the price dropped back down again - would there be the necessary regulation to guarantee the long-term sustainability of the British dairy industry?

This all highlights the continuing importance of the work being done by the MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, Daniel Kawczynski, who raised the issue of milk pricing in a ten-minute rule bill introduced to the House of Commons recently. This aimed at regulating milk retailers. In his speech, Mr Kawczynski highlighted the discrepancy between the price charged to the consumer by the major retailers and that paid to the dairy farmer, adding that the price paid to the farmer was unsustainable. In addition he criticised the Government's handling of the TB crisis.

He has also set up an all party group to lobby the UK and EU governments over this issue, and has, on a personal level, called for the creation of a regulatory body for supermarkets.

If you wish to read the full Hansard of this bill, it can be found under House of Commons Hansard for 25th July 2007, column 884.

Grain prices are buoyant at the moment but much of this has been driven by the weather, a fickle friend: a dry April and a wet summer in 2007 reduced estimates of production, pushing prices up. Ironically, these price rises are also in response to dry weather in other parts of Europe, having more serious consequences for their grain production: and yet these are supposed to be reliable sources of food for the UK. Oil prices, and the continuing review of pesticide approvals by the EU are all putting the squeeze on food production.

Changing weather patterns due to climate change are predicted to raise yield potential in the UK and Northern Europe, whilst at the same time bringing more extremes of weather which, if occurring at the establishment or harvest phase in particular, could significantly reduce a country's output, in particular its ability to export. We cannot therefore rely totally on imports from other countries.

Consequently no country can afford to wind down its grain production. All countries of Europe will need to plan for maximum production to account for local shortfalls.

Despite all this, Defra stands firm in its policy on food security, insisting it is no longer the concern it was during the Second World War, for example (more..). We see this as short-sightedness in the extreme.