UK Food Security: Farmers Call for Investment in Land and Sustainable Practices
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has emphasized the critical link between food production and environmental stewardship, advocating for increased investment in UK agriculture to bolster national food security. Responding to recent reports highlighting vulnerabilities in the food system, NFU Deputy President David Exwood stressed the necessity of protecting vital resources like healthy soils, pollinators, and clean water.
“Food production and environmental delivery have always gone hand in hand – we cannot have a resilient food system without these essential elements,” stated Exwood. “As custodians of the land,farmers and growers are committed to protecting these resources,but require the necessary investment to effectively do so.”
Farmers are particularly focused on the renewed Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) as a potential avenue for support.Exwood highlighted the need for stability and certainty within the scheme, noting a previous “stop-start approach” to environmental programs has created uncertainty.”Thousands of farmers are looking to the SFI to enable this work.After a stop-start approach to environmental schemes so far, farmers desperately need some certainty for the scheme this year and for the years ahead.”
Wiht growing geopolitical instability and the increasing impact of climate change, the NFU argues that reliance on food imports is unsustainable. “Investing in our national food security has to be a priority, and that starts with investing in the land,” Exwood concluded. The NFU points to emerging technologies like plant pre-breeding and regenerative agriculture as potential solutions, but emphasizes that their prosperous implementation requires ample financial backing.