The UK should aim for 75% self-sufficiency in food production by 2050, according to a group of MPs who have warned that UK agricultural productivity growth has stalled.
The All Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture (APPGSTA) this week expressed alarm at the findings of a study led by former NFU chief economist Derrick Wilkinson which concluded that domestic food production could decline by 32% by 2050 as a result of government policies including targets for house building and nature restoration.
In a new report, the group, which supports the concept of ‘sustainable intensification’ in agriculture, reiterated its call from earlier this year for ministers to set a target to increase agricultural output by 30% by 2050 while reducing farming’s environmental footprint by 50% – the so-called 30:50:50 mission. They said the mission should be embedded as a consistent, cross-departmental reference point across all food, farming and land use policies.
The group made up of cross-party MPs and other stakeholders is also calling for the strategic importance of food security to be elevated alongside environmental goals of biodiversity and net-zero, with a statutory target of 75% self-sufficiency by 2050.
Launching the report this week, APPGSTA chair George Freeman MP warned that UK agriculture is at a tipping point. “Despite favourable growing conditions, world-class agri-science, and a highly professional farming sector, UK agricultural productivity growth has stalled,” said Freeman.
“Across successive governments, fragmented support policies, inconsistent regulation and a failure to translate scientific advances into practice have constrained progress.”
In his study, Wilkinson estimated that government targets for house building, nature restoration, renewable energy, tree planting and infrastructure could result in the loss of up to a quarter of currently farmed land over the next 25 years, much of it high-quality arable land.
Without radical policy reform, Freeman argued the UK risks further erosion of its food self-sufficiency and growing reliance on imports “at a time when geopolitical instability and climate extremes threaten global food supply chains”.
Alongside a target for self-sufficiency, the group has urged the government to develop a new national farm data initiative to benchmark and monitor progress against the 30:50:50 objectives, and establish a new national knowledge exchange capability.
The strongly pro-technology APPGSTA, which has described the EU’s Green New Deal agenda as a risk to food security, also wants ministers to unlock the full potential of genetics and biotechnology by prioritising genetic innovation in crops and livestock as the main driver of productivity and sustainability gains in agriculture.
