-
The Campaign to Protect Rural
England calls on Andy to fulfil the Labour
manifesto commitment to source 50% of public sector
food from local and sustainable producers.
- New CPRE research shows that this would channel £1 billion a
year to British farmers, strengthening rural economies and food
security.
- Burnham named food and farming alongside steel,
defence and energy as sectors where UK sovereign capability
has slipped CPRE's new research shows how to fix it.
New research from the Campaign to
Protect Rural England (CPRE) reveals that making good on Labour's
manifesto commitment to source 50% of public sector food
from local and sustainable producers could deliver
a £1 billion annual boost for British farming.
In his speech this week, attacked a procurement system
that has for too long been 'chasing cut-price deals around the
world rather than helping our own British-based suppliers become
more stable and competitive.' He warned that the UK must
'safeguard sovereign manufacturing and production capability',
naming food and farming alongside defence and steel.
Directing public sector contracts to
local producers would provide the kind of stable, long-term
investment that enables smaller farms to remain
competitive and keeps public money circulating in local
economies, rather than flowing to large-scale distant suppliers
as it typically does now.
A 2026 government national security
assessment warned that 'significant increases in UK food system
and supply chain resilience' are needed to guard against hunger,
conflict and instability driven by ecosystem decline and crop
failures. Prioritising local, sustainable food procurement is a
practical, low-cost way to address that risk.
CPRE research published last year
found that more than 1,700 farms on the edges of English towns
and cities have disappeared since 2010.
This represents 56,000 hectares of farmland, or an area
comparable to the city of Leeds. Innovative, small- and
medium-sized producers ideally situated to supply towns and
cities are precisely those a reformed procurement system
would protect.
It's already working elsewhere.
Pilot schemes in Wales, Bath and North East Somerset,
and Bury show local food procurement can be delivered with
limited additional investment, supporting smaller
producers and local economies. Denmark's 2015 Organic Action Plan
achieved the same nationally, shifting public food
procurement to higher standards within existing budgets by
cutting food waste and prioritising seasonal
produce.
The government's own National
Procurement Policy Statement already commits to increasing the
proportion of public sector food from local suppliers
and certified to higher environmental standards. CPRE
is calling on the government to use
the forthcoming Food Strategy Action Plan to turn that
ambition into a clear, binding commitment and for
to ensure food and farming are
treated with the same seriousness as the other sectors key to our
national resilience.
CPRE agriculture lead and
report author Graeme Willis said:
The cut-price procurement
culture criticised this week
has played out for far too long on hospital menus and school
dinner plates across the country.
'The Food Strategy Action Plan is
Burnham's opportunity to prove he means business when
it comes to British farming. Investing in local
producers to supply better quality
food doesn't have to cost
more money, but will
help secure a better future for British farmers,
rural communities and our national food
security. Examples from the UK and beyond show it can
be done.'
ENDS
The full report can be accessed here: https://www.cpre.org.uk/resources/local-and-sustainable-food-buying/
