Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
the current state of food security in the United Kingdom as a
result of the war in Ukraine.
(Con)
My Lords, in begging leave to ask the Question standing in my
name on the Order Paper, I refer to my interests in the
register.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs () (Con)
My Lords, I refer to my entry in the register. I start by paying
tribute to . He had an extraordinary
influence on British agriculture and on this place, and his voice
needs to be the voice in our heads as we consider Questions such
as this.
The UK’s food import dependency on Ukraine and Russia is very
low, so the conflict is expected to have limited direct impact on
the UK food supply. However, Russia and Ukraine are major global
exporters of food commodities, so increases in international
commodity and fuel prices are putting pressure on food supply
chains. The Government are engaging with industry to understand
and mitigate any impacts of the conflict on individual industries
and supply chains.
(Con)
I join my noble friend in paying tribute to , who gave me my first job in
politics in 1982 in the European Parliament.
Given the increasing threat to food security, and the fact that
the Agriculture Act and the Environment Act were passed before
the hostilities in Ukraine and the rising cost of inflation, will
my noble friend promise to keep the phasing out of direct farm
payments and the introduction of environmental monies for public
goods under review to ensure that food production remains the top
priority for farmers, to boost our self-sufficiency? Will he
promise to keep market and supply chains under review, and will
he take this opportunity to inform us about the programme for
seasonal workers, particularly those in fruit and vegetables?
(Con)
I absolutely understand people’s concerns about the current
situation and its effect on farming. The basic payment scheme and
area payments have had their day and are indefensible. Some 10%
of landowners got over 50% of the BPS budget, and the smallest
farmers—one-third—got less than £5,000. What we are proposing is
different and it offers farmers much more choice to support their
businesses. My noble friend raises a very important point about
the market, and we are working very closely through the UK
Agriculture Market Monitoring Group, which monitors UK
agricultural markets, including price supply inputs, trade and
recent developments, and we have increased our engagement with
the industry. There is much we can do to support farming at this
difficult time, and we will continue to do so.
On seasonal workers: we have 30,000 visas agreed and that can be
extended to up to 40,000. Our current negotiations with the
industry suggest that this is enough, but we are keeping it under
review.
(CB)
My Lords, I declare my interests as a farmer, as set out in the
register. In view of the current inflation figures of between 24%
and 28% for farming inputs, and the considerable uncertainty of
being able to pass these costs on to the food retail sector,
there is a substantial danger that farmers will turn away from
food production to less risky and guaranteed income provided by
the countryside stewardship scheme, hence exacerbating the food
supply problem. Can the Minister tell us what measures he is
taking to protect and encourage food production and supply in
this country?
(Con)
Food production remains of central importance to our agricultural
reforms and there is much that we can do and are doing to help
farmers at this difficult time. The noble Lord is right to talk
about the massive increases in input costs, such as fertiliser.
We have announced recently a whole range of measures which will
ease this for farmers, but we recognise that they are making
decisions about next year’s cropping today—now—and we have to
support them and encourage as many as possible to produce food.
The strong price for wheat and other crops seems to suggest that
they will continue to do so, but we will keep that under
review.
(Lab)
My Lords, the noble Lord mentioned in his Answer the increase in
prices due to the effect of Russia and Ukraine on world trade. If
food prices go up, say, above 6% or 7%, will the Government cap
the price of food?
(Con)
No, it will not be for the Government to cap prices.
Price-capping policy has been disastrous in the past, but there
are other ways to support people on low incomes. The Government
are spending many billions of pounds addressing the rise in
household costs, and we will continue to do that.
of Hardington Mandeville
(LD)
My Lords, food security is at risk, and the Government have no
target to bolster food security and food chain resilience. They
have targets to secure biodiversity and tree planting. In 1984,
the UK’s overall food self-sufficiency was 78%, but in 2021, it
was down to 60%. Why are there no ambitious statutory targets for
self-sufficiency in the UK food sector that would take us back to
a more sustainable level?
(Con)
There is a measure in the Agriculture Act that requires the
Government every three years to produce a report on our
self-sufficiency, which we did at the end of last year. It has
remained relatively constant, and we are not complacent. At the
moment, we are 88% self-sufficient in wheat. The remainder,
mostly milling wheat, comes from Canada, and is therefore not
affected by this problem. We are 100% self-sufficient in poultry,
eggs, carrots, swedes, soft fruit, liquid milk and lamb, and 86%
in beef. However, we have a requirement from the population; for
example, we have seen an increase of five times in the amount of
rice that we consume. We have to address that, but this
Government are very keen to make sure that we are doing
everything we can to support self-sufficiency.
(Con)
My Lords, the United Kingdom has made the welcome announcement
that we are abolishing all tariffs and quotas on Ukrainian
imports, including agri-foods. Will my noble friend the Minister
join me in urging other countries to make the same gesture,
especially our allies in the European Union? Following the
blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, all its goods exports must
now transit across EU territory.
(Con)
Supporting our friends through liberalising trade is an important
way in which we can help a country such as Ukraine. It is just
part of a wide range of support that we are giving over and above
our defence support; we will continue to do so.
(Lab)
My Lords, I echo the Minister’s tribute to , who was respected all around
the Chamber. However, does the Minister agree that it is shocking
that around half a million people in the UK are now forced to use
food banks because of soaring food prices? He talked about the
Government putting money into this, but what are the Government
actually doing to help hard-pressed families who have to make a
choice between feeding themselves and heating their home? Where
is the action on that? Families are facing this dilemma every
day.
(Con)
I do not have time to go through the long list of the many
measures we are taking to support families at this time. For
example, we are providing £35 million to support schools in
disadvantaged areas to provide breakfast, and Healthy Start food
vouchers are increasing from £3.10 to £4.25. The reasons why
people have to access food banks are many and varied. The issue
requires a cross-government approach, looking at all sectors of
expenditure; we are working across government to do that.
(CB)
My Lords, I too pay tribute to , who was a father figure to many
of us who are involved in agriculture today. I have a very simple
question for the Minister. During the passage of the Environment
Bill, the Government refused to accept that food security was a
public good. In the light of the global crisis and inflation, can
the Minister confirm that food security is now regarded as a
public good?
(Con)
I am happy to do so. Food security is absolutely at the centre of
what we are seeking to achieve in supporting farmers to think as
entrepreneurially as they can and recognise that they have been
constrained in the past by a system that now allows them to
provide exactly what society needs and produce more, good-quality
food.
(GP)
The Minister referred to farmers. Given the now extremely high
fixed cost of artificial fertilisers and pesticides—these imports
also have massive environmental impacts in terms of damage to
soil, water and air—and that some farmers are already
productively and profitably farming and producing good-quality
food without such imports, are the Government planning an
emergency effort to support farmers in sharing their
agroecological knowledge, drawn from organic farming,
regenerative agriculture and integrated farm management systems,
and to provide free advice to farmers?
(Con)
I am sure that the noble Baroness will welcome the fact that
there is a significant shift towards regenerative farming, which
will address precisely that issue. In emergency terms, through
the sustainable farming initiative and our soil standard, we are
encouraging farmers to plant nitrogen-fixing crops, which will
reduce the need for synthetic fertilisers.
