Concerns about food supplies should trump environmental worries, says leading farmer

It’s time we took food security seriously, according to Mark Tinsley, who farms in Lincolnshire and chairs the Commercial Farmers Group.

He said: “Environmental change is a reality that few farmers would deny and the UK is also having to deal with an uncertain global economic future. This has serious implications for our food supplies. It could be that the days when we could worry about measuring the exact numbers of skylarks nesting in our fields is over.

“Producing food has always been the primary business of farmers so why not let us get on with what we do best? In carrying out that business we have also managed to create the countryside that is so highly valued. “

Mark Tinsley is just one of the debaters who will be throwing down the gauntlet at “Who Should Run the Countryside?” the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme’s major national conference being held at The Sage, Gateshead on Wednesday 16 November.

In a debate on “Food security versus environmental responsibility: which should take precedence?” he is joined in his pro-food security argument by Eric Audsley from Cranfield University and they will be opposed by Professor Joe Morris, also from Cranfield, and Chloe Palmer, independent speaker on ecological affairs. Keeping order will be the chair, well-known food writer and campaigner Geoff Tansey.