A coalition of leading food and farming businesses is warning the
UK faces a deepening food supply chain crisis unless government
takes urgent and meaningful action to fix the structural issues
facing the industry.
Ahead of a major food and farming summit today, the organisations
are calling on government to set out a positive food and farming
policy that creates a resilient and sustainable supply chain to
underpin domestic food security.
The summit takes place at the end of a year that saw the first
ever mass cull of healthy pigs in the UK, a shortage of seasonal
workers that threatened fruit and veg being left unpicked in
fields, a shortage of lorry drivers, a limited choice of products
on supermarket shelves and a rise in imports due to domestic
supply chain issues. Alongside this, record inflationary
pressures have affected energy, feed and fertiliser prices.
NFU President Minette Batters said: “Britain’s
farmers are world-leaders in producing climate friendly food and,
over the past 18 months, have been working hard to keep shelves
and fridges full despite many being impacted by severe supply
chain issues, particularly worker shortages. Government has tried
to paper over the cracks with short-term fixes, but if we want to
avoid this crisis continuing, long-term solutions are urgently
needed to ensure a resilient supply chain that enables us to
continue supplying everyone at home with fantastic produce, as
well as leading on the global stage.
“A start would be a serious commitment from government to, at the
very least, maintain Britain’s food production self-sufficiency
level at 60% and helping to create an environment for farm and
food businesses to thrive and compete in the coming years.”
Jayne Almond, Director of Policy and Corporate Affairs,
Food and Drink Federation, said: “There is no better
industry than food and drink - from farm to fork - to level up
the United Kingdom. With a footprint in every constituency, food
and drink provides local jobs and makes a significant
contribution to the UK’s economic performance. However, supply
chain issues and rising costs are challenging manufacturers like
never before. This important summit must consider how we can work
together to support our producers and manufacturers, while
ensuring UK shoppers continue to get the food and drink they
want, at the right price.”
Dr Zoe Davies, Chief Executive, National Pig Association,
said: “The UK pig sector is still in
meltdown as worker shortages continue to impact our ability to
process the number of pigs we already have on farms. The
entire food supply chain and government must pull together and
resolve the backlog now or we will have no independent pig
producers left. Already 60% of the pork eaten in the UK comes
from the EU – it would be a travesty to see this figure increase
as more healthy UK pigs are culled on farms and their meat
wasted.”
Andrew Opie, Director of Food and Sustainability, British
Retail Consortium, said: “The government needs a
coherent food policy to maintain UK production, including a clear
strategy for solving labour shortages throughout the supply
chain. Food retailers and producers are working hard to adapt to
a post-Brexit world, ensuring supply chains can continue to
deliver quality and affordable food for everyone.”
Ash Amirahmadi, Managing Director, Arla Foods UK,
said: “The UK food and farming sector is experiencing
shortages in a range of areas caused by local and global factors
that are putting real pressure on the supply chain, increasing
costs and, ultimately, prices. These strains are not going to go
away as we work to become even more sustainable and compete for
the best people to come into our industry. Collaboration between
government, the industry and farmers is the only way to address
this for the long-term and all of us at Arla are ready to play
our part.”
Bob Carnell, Chief Executive, ABP UK said: “The
UK is one of the most environmentally competitive beef producers
globally. We have the opportunity to further enhance this
position and become a global leader through improved use of data
and technology at farm level and adopting a whole farm approach
to sustainable beef production. To help deliver and give UK
consumers and other markets access to the best beef in the world,
we need to attract and retain more skilled workers from home and
abroad and ensure a level playing field for quality British meat
when compared to imports.”
-ends-
Notes to editor:
- The NFU Food Security Summit takes place on Tuesday 14
December at The QE11 Centre, London, SW1P 3EE.
