The NFU has warned the UK government that it must back British food production or risk more empty supermarket shelves. With depleted egg stocks at retail level and UK fruit and vegetable growers under pressure from soaring energy costs and worker shortages, the union says other farming sectors could soon face supply issues caused by unfairness throughout the supply chain.
On the same day this week, the NFU horticulture board members held an extraordinary meeting about ongoing shortages in the workforce; Defra held a roundtable meeting with representatives from the egg supply chain; and the NFU held an emergency press conference for national broadcasters and newspapers to highlight the threats to UK food security.
NFU president Minette Batters has urged prime minister Rishi Sunak to honour commitments he made to support British farmers through the energy crisis and to set a target for the nation’s food security, with a statutory duty to report on domestic food levels. She says the situation has been worsening since 2019 and is now an emergency.
The briefing stated there are 13% fewer laying hens in the UK than in 2019, producing 320 million less eggs in July-September 2022 compared to the same period of 2019. Production of many horticultural crops is at its lowest level since 1985 when records began, with dairy and beef production also expected to fall, as producers battle with energy and input cost inflation and a labour shortage. At the same time, post Brexit trade deals are opening the UK to more imported food and pressuring domestic production.
Minette Batters NFU President with her opening speech at the NFU Annual Conference 2022 at the International Convention Centre, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom on February 22, 2022.
Credit: Simon Hadley / NFU
“Shoppers up and down the country have for decades had a guaranteed supply of high-quality affordable food produced to some of the highest animal welfare, environmental and food safety standards in the world,” Ms Batters told journalists. “That food, produced with care by British farmers, is critical to our nation’s security and success. But British food is under threat.
“Last week the former director general of MI5, Baroness Manningham-Buller giving the Henry Plumb lecture, said that food is part of our critical national infrastructure and that government needs to be consistent in planning for our food supply. I couldn’t agree more, particularly at a time when global volatility is threatening the stability of the world’s food production, food security and energy security.
“We have already seen the egg supply chain crippled under the pressure caused by these issues and I fear the country is sleepwalking into further food supply crises, with the future of British fruit and vegetable supplies in trouble. We need government and the wider supply chain to act now – tomorrow could well be too late.”
The NFU is demanding a Defra investigation into whether an “exceptional market conditions” declaration should be made under the Agriculture Act 2020, given the severe disruption which egg producers and UK consumers are experiencing; action on regulating dairy contracts to enable fairer terms for farmers, which was announced in 2021 but which has still not happened; and fairer treatment for fruit and vegetable growers, along with a commitment from government to lift the cap on the seasonal worker scheme to increase the number of visas available to meet the sector’s essential workforce needs.