The percentage of highly food secure households has dropped from 87% in 2019/20 to 83% in 2022/23, according to the UK Government’s food security report 2024. Indeed, the financial year ending 2023 marks the lowest proportion of households experiencing food security since the introduction of household food security to the family resources survey in 2020.
A highly food secure household is defined as all people at all times having access to enough food for an active, healthy life. And there are fewer people in the UK that can enjoy that currently.
The report also highlights significant dietary inequalities across income groups, ethnicity, and disability. The report “does not make for encouraging reading”, said Joss MacDonald, public affairs lead at The Food Foundation.
Things are getting worse in no small part because of the climate and nature crises, affecting harvests both in the UK and overseas (the production-to-supply ratio was at 62% for all food and 75% for indigenous foods in 2023, showing a small increase from 61% and 74% in 2021).
The government’s report notes that “extreme weather events continue to have a significant effect on domestic production,particularly arable crops, fruit and vegetables”, and long-term decline in the UK’s natural capital is a “pressing risk to UK food production”.
Barnaby Coupe, senior land use policy manager at The Wildlife Trusts, called on the government “to outline a clear future for nature-friendly farm schemes as a matter of extreme urgency”. The report comes at a time when confidence levels among farmers have plummeted. Farmers continue to protest on various fronts and have urged the government to take their plight seriously.
Soil Association head of food policy Rob Percival called for rapid and radical action to overhaul our food system. “Climate breakdown and nature loss are already undermining the UK’s food security, and it’s going to get worse,” he said. “We need this new government to listen.”
The government is reportedly working on a new food strategy. In a call with food industry leaders and other stakeholders this week Steve Reed, the Defra secretary, outlined his plans. The food strategy is the third pillar in the trio of policy frameworks announced by Defra (the others being the farming road map and a land use framework).
According to Sue Pritchard, chief executive at the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, Reed is not keen to repeat the analysis carried out by Henry Dimbleby. “The case for change is made. It’s time to focus on a plan for delivery,” Pritchard posted on social media.
Critical now is the composition of the delivery board, she added: “It needs to reflect citizens’ aspirations for a fairer, more sustainable food system, focusing on turning ambitious strategies into a deliverable plan that works for businesses and communities around the UK.”
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