The NFU is urging the government to act on the recommendations of the National Preparedness Commission, an independent group of experts in national crises planning, following a stark warning in its new report on food resilience.
Authored by Professor Tim Lang, Professor Emeritus of Food Policy at City St George’s, University of London, ‘Just in Case: 7 steps to narrow the UK civil food resilience gap’, proposes a shift away from ‘just-in-time’ to ‘just-in-case’ logistics with regards to food resilience.
The report calls for urgent action to make food systems more resilient in order to effectively safeguard the nation’s food supply in the face of increasing global shocks and pressures.
Seven key areas of concern are highlighted along with 15 actionable recommendations to protect the UK’s civil food security.
Responding to the report’s findings, NFU President Tom Bradshaw said, “This report could not be clearer – food security is absolutely vital to our nation’s resilience, but our current food system is not where it needs to be to withstand future crises.
“We have seen our fair share of crises in recent years, from the Covid pandemic to the devastating war in Ukraine, and it was only a couple of years ago when a combination of high production costs here and bad harvests abroad meant the rationing of fresh produce in supermarkets.
“Governments can have short memories, but our ability to feed ourselves should always be a priority.”
Tom pointed to high input costs, climate change change, cuts to direct payments, delays to environmental schemes and the government’s budget as having a direct impact on homegrown food production.
Intended as a ‘rallying cry’ for policymakers, the report asks the question – how prepared for food shocks are the British? It highlights a ‘convergence of threats’ and offers a blueprint for stability and preparedness.
Bradshaw said, “This report lays down very clear policy directions for the government to take to improve the UK’s food resilience, and it’s important to note that these are the recommendations of experts in security, defence and crises management. If the government means what it repeatedly says – that food security is critical to national security – then it will take the Commission’s warning extremely seriously and follow its expert advice.”
Author of the report Professor Tim Lang said: “The UK’s post-War food system, while revolutionary in its time, is no longer fit for purpose. To safeguard our future, we must prioritise resilience at every level – from local communities to national frameworks. There is too much complacency about UK food security and civil food resilience barely features at all in forward planning.”
The report focusses heavily on system adjustments to address an immediate crisis or emergency, however Patrick Holden, Chief Executive of the Sustainable Food Trust, said that there is also a need to establish longer term ecological resilience.
He said, “I can only congratulate Tim Lang for reminding us all about the dangerous precariousness of our current food supply system. The phrase ‘9 meals from anarchy’ comes to mind. By which is meant that were the ‘just in time’ distribution systems to break down due to weather events, wars and other unexpected catastrophes it wouldn’t take long before people were going hungry.
“Perhaps what Tim should have mentioned more is the need for ecological as well as physical resilience. We need more regional and localised systems of food production and distribution based on core principles of sustainability if we are to co-create a truly more resilient food system for future generations.”
The report makes key recommendations, including:
- A new coherent UK food policy is developed and put on a statutory basis, to transform the UK food system to a sustainable footing for ‘normal’ times; this would improve food security by increasing domestic production, diversifying sources and enhancing regional food systems. Ideally this would be enacted in a new Food Security and Resilience Act, but the other option would be a section in a future Resilience Act or food amendments to the Civil Contingencies
Act 2004. The scale and importance of food, and its post-Brexit lack of direction suggests particular legislation is needed. - Legislation should formalise an obligation on the state to ensure the public is fed in crises (as per Sweden) and to allocate responsibilities for preparedness to central and local government, while stipulating the principles for doing so.
- The current Just-in-Time approach to food distribution and logistics should be altered towards a Just-in-Case approach, planning for food shocks and the case for civil food resilience.
- A new National Council of Food Security and Resilience should provide clear, evidence based advice and to provide continuity of such advice.
- The National and Community Risk Registers and risk assessment processes should take account of local conditions, risks and consequences of shocks to the food system, taking public reactions more centrally in that process. This should include community audits of food assets, knowledge and local infrastructure.
- Civil society organisations should be consulted over improving civil food resilience and public advice for emergencies, leading to a revamped system of public advice for emergencies, replacing the ‘Prepare’ programme, building trust into how the process is run.
- Land use policy such as England’s National Planning Policy Framework should give higher priority to food production potential in and around urban areas and should accelerate the re-localisation and regionalisation of food production in a more decentralised manner, as appropriate and accounting for commitments on climate, ecosystems, social inequality reduction, and regional priorities, taking account of public access to land for food growing, where possible.
- Metro mayors, regional bodies and the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should be encouraged to exchange lessons in development of regional food approaches, built on public interest criteria accounting for climate, ecosystems, social needs and regional priorities.
Read the report, Just in Case: 7 steps to narrow the UK civil food resilience gap