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The facts

Latest news (see also Food Security's Action page)

• We have a new leaflet (see 'Contacts' page)and a new brochure. If you would like any of either to read or distribute please contact us.

Extract from brochure:

CAP - Single Farm Payments

If the Goverment eliminate payments to farmers for caring for the soil, wildlife, and indeed for ensuring many environmental benefits, then who will take care of these concerns? We quote from House of Lords Hansard 19 February 2008: 'My Lords, according to Treasury figures, membership of the CAP costs every family in this country £18 a week' (Lord Stoddart)... 'We are paying out money for the wrong thing. The CAP takes up some 40% of the total EU budget for one industry and that is quite unacceptable' (Lord Rooker).

But if there had been no SFPs or equivalent for the last 10 years, would it not be safe to assume that food production EU-wide would have been seriously lower than at present? Indeed, if current world shortfalls of essential foods have so quickly pushed up food prices to unprecedented levels, how much worse might it have been? We gather that the average UK farm income without these payments would have been about £25 week in 2007 (Farmer's Weekly, 8.2.2008)

Who knows

 - how great the current food shortages would have been by now?                                                 

- how many farmers would have been left?

- how much less tax HMRC would have collected from the farming industry?

- how much higher a family's food shopping bill would have been?

Please remember that these payments are being phased out and are likely to be gone by 2013. A responsible policy and strategy for the UK production beyond 2013 is vital. We cannot afford to say 'We'll see what happens after that' or 'We'll leave it to Europe'.

There are many other such articles in the brochure. Please contact us for a copy.

• Food security is very much in the news lately, being discussed at any number of conferences as well as in the general media. There are many threats to the UK's food production, including rising oil prices and all that entails. One particularly worrying development is the proposal by the EU to base all pesticide approvals on 'hazard' rather than 'risk'. It is estimated that such a move could revoke the approval of over 80% of currently-available pesticides. Whilst no-one likes to think about pesticide use in food production, such a massive cut would have severe consequences for the amount and quality of food produced in this country. More details are available on the PSD website, e.g.

http://www.pesticides.gov.uk/environment.asp?id=1980

Go to final link at bottom of page ("Replacement for EC91/414 Impact Report Supplement")

 Frustration over the state of the UK pig industry, and the Government's inaction, was very much in evidence recently when several hundred pig farmers marched through London. The protest on March 4th was organised by the National Pig Association and a 13,000 name petition was handed over to Downing St. The farmers warned that without urgent action 95% of pig producers could go out of business by the end of 2008, due to rising production costs and low produce prices. The result of this is an estimated industry loss of £3.5 million per week.

• Food security was the dominant theme of the NFU 2008 Conference. In one of several speeches on a similar theme, Conservative leader David Cameron addressed the issue of food security and the need to make UK farmers competitive with their European counterparts. The full content of the speech can be viewed here http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=142406&speeches=1

•Latest figures indicate that 95% of pig farmers say they will leave the industry if produce prices do not improve. There have been increased calls for premium payment for non-intensive production, to help offset the higher costs of outdoor pig units favoured in the UK, in contrast to mainland Europe where intensive indoor production is more common and less costly. These Continental producers are better able to cope with higher feed costs and will be in a position to fill the void left in the UK industry as more and more production units close.

• Further worries as to the continued running-down of food production:

1. The proposal to charge £40m annually to the farming industry for disease control, further reducing already perilously low incomes in the livestock section.

2. Proposed abandonment of flood defences which could lead to the loss of thousands of acres of agricultural land.

3. The likely tightening of rules regarding Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs) which will inevitably reduce production of arable crops and put further demands on livestock farmers with new rules on manure and slurry storage.

4. The suggestion by the EU Commission to replace national food labelling with a 'Made in the EU' scheme, which will apply to all foods except meat.

•There was no mention of agriculture in the Queen's Speech at the opening of the new Parliamentary session (6th November), which was regretted in both Houses, especially the House of Lords. Lord Dixon-Smith summed up the concerns expressed by others (notably Lord Cameron, Lord Haskins and Lady Mar) as to food security, among other issues, saying 'These are fundamental issues not just for our immediate future but for the future of mankind and they will unquestionaby come back to this House time and time again....'We are in an age of land hunger. We have heard in some important speeches the theme that we are moving from an era of food surplus to an era of food shortage'. Those interested can read the debate under Lords Hansard, 13th November 2007.

Earlier articles:

• Food security was the subject of a recent debate at Westmister Hall, when the Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes, Sussex, Norman Baker, followed up his earlier speech on the state of the farming community. Details of the speech here..

• Well known columnist and commentator Guy Smith recently addressed the issue of food security in his recent Farmers Guardian column. Although the Ministry personnel he refers to have since moved on, we still feel his sentiments are valid. Read the article in full here...