NFU calls on Government to reverse countrys dependence on food imports

NFU President Peter Kendall will ask Defra Secretary of State Caroline Spelman what the Government is doing to reverse the countrys growing dependence on imports when he addresses the NFUs annual conference today.

During the two-day event in Birmingham, Mr Kendall will argue that the Government must take urgent action to close the UKs widening food gap saying that rich countries shouldnt be sitting back and expecting the rest of the world to feed its people.

He will argue that the dramatic events of the past 12 months: drought in Russia, floods in Queensland, the hottest year on record, global food prices at an all-time high – and a factor in the major upheavals in Tunisia and Egypt, demonstrate that agriculture is not a purely economic issue but is central to social and political stability. The recent Foresight report on global food and farming has called on governments to take urgent and co-ordinated action now to avert hunger and disruption on a catastrophic scale in the future.

Speaking ahead of the conference, Mr Kendall said: The Foresight report is another wake-up call. Bold actions and difficult decisions will be needed. Im asking the Government to look at our own growing populations reliance on supplies from the rest of the world as part of its response to the report.

Ive heard a number of commentators sitting on their high horses and talking about how bad export bans are. But if were going to have a debate about morality I honestly believe that a country short of food trying to protect its own peoples supplies by banning grain exports is nothing compared to rich countries allowing their agriculture to decline and then expecting the rest of the world to feed them.

I will be asking Caroline Spelman to lead the way at Defra and ensure that a food plan is drawn up, alongside the other White Papers on the natural environment and water that her department is working on – and quite rightly; biodiversity and water resources are flagged up as major concerns by the Foresight group. But wheres the food plan?

On the future of the Common Agriculture Policy, I will be urging the Secretary of State to focus on developing the fair and functioning markets which the Foresight report talks about. Again, thats not just about export bans out there in the rest of the world; its about how markets work within Europe and the UK. Simply ending subsidies wont miraculously make the markets work. We need to drive competitiveness and manage volatility in the markets first to give UK producers those working at the sharp end of the food chain the chance to do what they what to do;   stand on their own two feet and make a living.

I think everyone at conference will be with me when I say UK farmers are part of the answer to the grand global challenges which have been laid bare even in the past twelve months. We need the Government to accept that too – and make a place for farming at the top of its own agenda.

The NFU Conference 2011 Farming at the Heart of the Economy is taking place at the Birmingham Hilton Metropol Hotel on Tuesday February 15 and 16.