Farmers have an important role in improving the nutritional value of our food
Highlighting how collaboration throughout the entire food supply chain is crucial to improving the nutritional value of food produced, with agriculture playing a central role.
Nuffield Arden Scholars; Caroline Drummond MBE, and David Northcroft
The Nuffield Farming Frank Arden Conference, held on 24 April, has highlighted how collaboration throughout the entire food supply chain is crucial to improving the nutritional value of food produced, with agriculture playing a central role.
The Conference topic ‘How can farming learn from science to improve the nutritional value of our food’ was chosen for its relevance to the growing problem of obesity and dietary related illnesses. It was led by two Nuffield Scholars who presented the findings from their study and travel experiences, which reviewed the latest scientific research and thinking on this subject.
Selected for their aptitude in the topic, the Scholars; Caroline Drummond, MBE, Chief Executive of LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming), and David Northcroft, Waitrose Category and Varietal Development Manager travelled extensively over the course of 12 months, and met with leading researchers and organisations from around the world.
Addressing the Conference, Caroline Drummond said that for the first time, more people are dying from diseases associated with the wrong kind of food and too much of it, rather than malnutrition through under-eating. She asserted that we need to understand the role of agriculture to address these issues. “We need the entire supply chain to join up and work together to form an integrated approach across the whole food and food producing industries to utilise the science available.”
Caroline’s research focused around identifying the opportunities available for the majority of farmers to address and improve the health of the general public – health by stealth.
“Food and nutrition is the bed-rock of society,” said Caroline. “We need to develop the building blocks that connect health, well-being, nutrition, farming and education, to create sustainable diets and food systems that are underpinned by the need to improve health and nutrition.”
Caroline added, “The investment in reducing the burden of diet related diseases will have high returns. Feeding a world without nourishing it at the same time is not sensible. We all need to do more and we need to ensure that health is embedded as a value when we buy food.
“To make sure this happens, the general public need to have a deeper connection with agriculture, they are becoming increasingly removed from how food is produced, and it’s also important not to neglect the fact that farmers can improve their own nutritional knowledge. Agricultural courses should include basic human food nutrition within their syllabuses.”
David Northcroft went onto address the Conference. “Farmers have a contract with society in producing their food. It’s imperative that higher quality, more nutrient dense food is produced, as we are still not achieving ‘5 a-day’ in the population.”
Using the benefit of his retail experience, David told the audience that retailers have a responsibility to support and drive the 5 a-day campaign. “Currently 64% of adults in the UK are overweight or obese; this is costing the NHS £5 billion a year.
“Future product development should adopt a more scientific basis to improve the nutritional value of food – this is the next necessary trait and will become the new benchmark. We must educate and inform consumers to understand the importance of a healthy diet.”
He also stressed that there needs to be a collaborative effort. “It’s not just about one element working in isolation. The retailer may pull it through the supply chain, but everyone needs to work together. We must all work to improve diets and inform consumers using appropriate communication channels.
“This is an exciting time for farmers and growers; during my travels I have seen niche, higher nutritional produce turn into mainstream commodities. Farmers need to be connected to the best agronomists and scientists to have the opportunity to be early adopters.”
