Food security is a public good and should be a central tenet of plans for England’s land, Committee argues

The Government should not squander its opportunity to enshrine food security as a central tenet of its eagerly awaited Land Use Framework, the Environmental Audit Committee has warned in its ‘environmental change and food security’ report.

The Framework is intended to set out the Government’s plans for agriculture, the environment and net zero, helping to guide farmers on how they can contribute towards the UK’s environmental and nature goals. The Committee calls for the Government to prioritise publishing its plans, which the Government has said it expects to release this year.

The Committee argues the Framework must set out how land will balance producing food in a sustainable way that supports a resilient food system, while also responding to environmental change. For example, extreme weather in the UK last year made it harder for crops like broccoli or cauliflower to grow, while cereals and oilseed rape thrived. Where feasible, the Committee recommends that land should be shared between competing uses, including food production, carbon sequestration, restoring nature and growing energy crops.

The Committee also concludes that Environmental Land Management schemes, which pay farmers and other land managers to help deliver environmental goals, represent a “critical lever” in incentivising a shift towards food security, and offer the Government “an opportunity that must not be missed”.

The Committee argues that the Government should not take for granted – as the Minister did in evidence – that food security is a public good, given the profound implications that a decline in food security can have across society. It recommends that the Government should designate food security as a public good and make food security a more explicit consideration in its design of ELMs.

The Committee also welcomes the Government’s advance towards establishing a baseline of food sustainability metrics. These will be vital tools in measuring progress on food system resilience and sustainability. However, more clarity is needed on how the Government will proceed, and when. The Committee recommends that the Government should list all the areas for which it intends to establish baseline metrics and publish a timetable for when each metric will be in place.

Throughout its inquiry, the Committee was struck by the potential for new technologies to support sustainable food production. New technologies, such as more resilient crop varieties, vertical farming, using drones to grow crops, or developing fertilisers from waste, represent an exciting area. The Committee therefore calls on the Government to publish a strategy for innovative food production technologies.

Last week, the Government announced 34 new Landscape Recovery projects – a form of ELM scheme - across England. However, the Government’s announcement made no mention of food security, nor did it announce the publication of the Land Use Framework.  

Environmental Audit Committee Chair, Rt Hon Philip Dunne MP, said:

“Both at home and abroad, climate change and biodiversity loss are making their impact felt on British people’s plates, whether through lower crop yields here, or limited access to Mediterranean fruit and vegetables in supermarkets.

"The Committee welcomes the Government’s progress on food security so far, not least in its intention to publish a Land Use Framework which will be welcome guidance to manage the competing demands on our land. However, this Framework is long overdue and the Government must prioritise and publish it this year. It is clear to the Committee that food security must be a central tenet: delivering this promptly could make a critical difference in transforming the Government’s ambition for food into reality.

“The Government must make clear how and when it will establish common standards for sustainability metrics. Without these, the agricultural sector will be unable to plan for the future. And where fast-developing technologies have the potential to transform agriculture, such as futuristic vertical farms or recycled non-fossil fuel fertilisers, the Government should set out how it will trial, regulate and democratise these new technologies.

“Food security is clearly a public good and should become an explicit goal of the Environmental Land Management Schemes to incentivise farmers to champion a sustainable food system. Food security cannot be an optional extra; the Government must give the sector the leadership it needs, or risk holding back the UK’s clear potential to deliver a resilient and secure food system.”