The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture (APPGSTA) has this week issued a call for the UK Government to adopt an ambitious new Innovation Agenda for UK Agriculture, focused on a clear, long-term objective to increase domestic food production by 30% by 2050 while reducing UK agriculture’s environmental footprint by 50%. The 30:50:50 vision. Here the Group’s chair, former science minister George Freeman MP, explains why a new vision is needed to re-frame the farm policy, regulatory and R&D agenda to address the urgency of UK and global food security, affordability and sustainability challenges, harnessing the latest advances in agricultural science and innovation.

 

This week, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science & Technology in Agriculture (APPGSTA) hosted the first ever Agri-Science Week in Parliament event, centred around an exhibit in the main Palace of Westminster, showcasing some of the UK taxpayer funded research and innovation taking place in research institutes and university departments across the country to help drive improvements in the productivity, end-use quality and environmental sustainability of British agriculture.

 

Our aim in hosting the event was to engage directly with as many politicians as possible, and in particular the new intake of MPs who may not immediately think of farming innovation as important to them or their constituents. As a Group, we are committed to supporting innovation in farming and food production. We want to make agricultural science and technology relevant to all Parliamentarians, and to connect agri-tech innovation with people’s everyday concerns, from securing affordable food supplies to tackling climate change, improving health and nutrition, and leaving more room for nature.

 

As part of Agri-Science Week in Parliament, the All-Party Group also unveiled its 30:50:50: vision - a call for the UK Government to adopt an ambitious new Innovation Agenda for UK Agriculture, focused on a clear, long-term objective to increase domestic food production by 30% by 2050 while reducing UK agriculture’s environmental footprint by 50%.

 

The APPG vision document welcomes the UK Government’s strong commitment to food security, and the fact that Defra minister Daniel Zeichner has confirmed that his Government wants the country to produce more food.

  

But we have serious doubts over whether current policies will deliver on that objective. Leaving aside the spectre of the inheritance tax row and the potential damage it is doing to confidence within the farming industry, we have to question whether the state of affairs this Government has inherited, and the policy landscape in terms of farming and the countryside, regulation of innovation, and agriculture-related R&D, are likely to support an ambition for the nation’s farmers and growers to produce more food.

       

We heard recently, for example, that our dependence on wheat imports is at its highest since records began 30 years ago. This year we are on course to produce just 15% of our vegetable oil requirements, rather than 40% a decade or so ago. UK potato production is at its lowest level for more than a decade, and Defra figures indicate that UK self-sufficiency in fresh vegetables, at 53%, is at its lowest since records began in 1988, while for fresh fruit we produce just 16% of our needs.

 

This isn’t about talking the industry down. With our good soils, temperate climate, professional farming sector and world-class agri-science base, Britain is well-placed to produce more food, more sustainably, and to reduce our dependence on food imports. In doing so, we will also be better placed to contribute to the global food security challenge by developing and exporting technological solutions, increasing our own food exports, and fostering international R&D collaboration.

 

And as the Agri-Science Week exhibit has clearly demonstrated, Britain has some of the most cutting edge, world-leading research taking place in research institutes and university departments across the country.

 

But we need a clearer plan to unlock its potential, and to translate that fantastic science into on-farm innovation. And our farmers and growers desperately need clarity and consistency about their purpose, first and foremost, as food producers.

 

That’s why the All-Party Group has launched its vision for an Innovation Agenda for UK Agriculture, as the start of a conversation which we hope will result in a more evidence-based approach to helping the nation’s farmers and growers to produce ‘more from less’.

  

Ministers want the country to produce more food. But even the Government’s own assessments warn that current farm policies will reduce and displace food production. Meanwhile our regulatory processes stifle access to agricultural innovation and, despite increases, R&D investment is not translating into farm-level productivity growth.

 

A new vision is needed to re-frame the policy, regulatory and R&D agenda with an ambitious, high-level objective to increase domestic food self-sufficiency while reducing UK agriculture’s environmental footprint.

 

In developing this approach, we have been inspired by the example of the United States, which has set out a high-level Agricultural Innovation Agenda, with a goal to increase production by 40% by 2050, while halving US agriculture’s environmental footprint. The UK must adopt a similar, long-term objective to increase food production sustainably.

 

We believe a realistic ambition would be to increase domestic food self-sufficiency from its current 60% to 75% over the next 25 years. Taking forecast population growth into account, this means increasing UK agricultural production by 30% by 2050.  

 

The APPG 30:50:50 vision document sets out three clear steps to deliver on that objective.

 

Step one

Set clear, measurable objectives for Sustainable Efficient Production, or SEP. 

 

Mirroring the US Agriculture Innovation Agenda, we believe a 30% increase in domestic food production can be delivered by 2050 while reducing farming’s environmental footprint by 50% per unit of output, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water use and soil health.

 

The 30:50:50 agenda.

 

Step two

Develop a consistent, evidence-based approach to the collection and integration of farm-level data to provide a single metric for consumers, policy-makers and investors - the SEP Index.

 

The All-Party Group has long-advocated the need to embed data science and sustainability metrics at the heart of a more evidence-based policy agenda, with a laser focus on securing the optimum balance between food production, resource use and environmental impact.

 

To deliver the SEP Index in practice, we recommend the establishment of a new National Agri-Data Institute, funded by and reporting to Defra, to create a centralised system for industry-wide sharing, collation and analysis of the vast silos of agricultural data – on-farm and in research institutes – which are not currently being properly integrated or exploited.

 

Step three

Ensure the policy landscape is joined up and focused on the right priorities to deliver on the 30:50:50 agenda.     

 

Over the coming period, members and stakeholders of the Group will consider in greater detail what policy drivers and initiatives are needed to deliver on the 30:50:50 objective. This will include a series of focused expert roundtable meetings, each bringing together ~20 people and covering farming/land use policy, regulation of farming innovations, and agricultural R&D.    

 

The weight of scientific evidence indicates, for example, that it will require a shift away from ‘land-sharing’ farm policies to more of a ‘land-sparing’ approach, with an emphasis on high-yield farming on a smaller land area to free up more space for intact nature and carbon sequestration.

 

It will also mean policy reform in terms of land use, regulation of new agricultural technologies, and a re-organisation of our fragmented R&D landscape to focus on the delivery of innovation and translation into practice.

 

We hope that the launch of the APPG vision document this week will mark the starting point in a more evidence-based conversation about the policies needed to help the UK Government deliver on its commitment that ‘food security is national security’, and on its stated ambition for the country to produce more food.  

 

The urgency of UK and global food security, affordability and sustainability challenges mean that a new vision, with clear, long-term objectives, are needed to harness the latest advances in agricultural science and innovation. As a Group, we actively encourage input and comment from as wide a range of stakeholders as possible to support this process.

 

George Freeman has been Conservative MP for Mid-Norfolk since 2010. A former Minister for Science, Research and Innovation in the previous Government, he is a member of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, and also chairs the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee.