Chris Bennett: Ukraine war highlights food security risk
© Johnny Houston When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine there was much media focus on the concerns around energy supply to Europe.
I would argue that food supply should be an equal, if not greater, concern, given that Russia and Ukraine are such important agricultural commodity exporters.
Together, they account for about one-quarter of the world’s wheat exports.
See also: Chris Bennett – cut farmers some slack on water quality
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When asked about the UK’s reliance on Russia for its energy needs, Boris Johnson replied: “The faster this country can be more self-reliant on our own energy, the more prosperous we will be, but also, of course, the more sustainable our energy prices will be, and that will benefit the UK consumer.”
Replace the word “energy” with “food” and you reveal the exact message farmers have been trying to get across to Defra for the past few years.
Food self-sufficiency is the gold standard for any country’s food security. Unfortunately, in the UK food self-sufficiency has dwindled to a concerning 60%.
This will continue to trend downwards, particularly if the government achieves its aim of protecting 30% of land for nature by 2030.
I used to believe that food production was not a public good, as it is rewarded by the market. In times of poor supply the price paid to suppliers increases to encourage more production.
This is what we are seeing at the moment.
The issue is that food production is a slow process. Good prices today will encourage cropping changes that in many cases will not be harvested and available to eat for more than a year.
As a result, the market can’t react fast enough to prevent food shortages. Ensuring a minimum level of domestic production provides stability and must be seen as a public good.
Trade deals with large food exporters such as Australia and New Zealand appear to improve our food security on paper, but if they come at the cost of domestic food production, they could risk our food supply in the long run.
In an increasingly tumultuous world where events such as invasions, pandemics and natural disasters affect global trade, a domestic food supply remains the most reliable source of food, and this must be recognised and rewarded in farming policy.