George Freeman MP, former UK Minister for Science and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture, explains why a major reset of domestic farm policy is needed to help Britain’s farmers produce ‘more from less’ by harnessing the latest advances in agricultural science and innovation. As we accelerate into a war-time economy, with unprecedented pressures on the public purse and against a backdrop of increasing geopolitical uncertainty, he argues that paying farmers to de-intensify production or to re-wild productive farmland is just plain wrong when the Government has made clear that ‘food security is national security’. He sets out next steps to take forward the All-Party Group’s 30:50:50 vision to increase UK agricultural production by 30% by 2050 while reducing farming’s environmental footprint by 50%.         

 

UK agriculture policy needs a 180-degree, tyre-screeching reset to unlock the world-leading science and innovation taking place at Britain’s research institutes and universities, and to help our farmers produce ‘more from less’ against a backdrop of increasing global uncertainty and volatility.

 

We risk the prospect of mass migration, civil unrest, malnutrition and famine if the world does not step up to the urgent challenge of feeding a world population set to exceed 10 billion people by 2050, on the same amount of land, and using half as much water and energy.  

 

The ‘perfect storm’ context for this mission, originally set out in Sir John Beddington’s Foresight report on Global Food Security almost 15 years ago, is now even more urgent with the impact of climate change, war in Ukraine and ongoing geopolitical instability.

 

When we are rapidly accelerating into a war-time economy, needing to find extra tens of billions to fund defence commitments and peace-keeping efforts in Ukraine, this is a massive reset moment, whether we wanted it or not.

 

So, I genuinely welcome the fact that the Labour Government has made clear that food security is national security, and that Defra farming minister Daniel Zeichner MP has said he wants farmers across the country to produce more of our own food.

 

But when it comes to agriculture, the rest of the world is moving quicker than us, and our slow response is all the more noticeable. UK wheat yields are continuing to flat-line, other countries’ agricultural productivity growth is outpacing ours, and our import reliance in key sectors such as veg, fruit and oils is at record highs. So, the indicators are going the wrong way, not the right way.

 

Even the EU has cancelled its production-limiting Green Deal commitments, with a new Vision for Agriculture and Food recently launched to safeguard and strengthen the bloc’s productive capacity, and underlining the heightened risks of Europe taking its food security and food sovereignty for granted. 

    

Meanwhile the United States has set out its own high-level Agricultural Innovation Agenda, with a goal to increase food 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.

 

Because the orthodoxy being pursued by Defra across successive Governments, of de-intensifying agricultural production and re-wilding productive farmland, is plain wrong and out of kilter with these global ambitions.

 

This is absolute madness, and it is up to us, the political class, the elected politicians, to set a new direction that is fit for the world we live in, and that is capable of harnessing and exploiting the genius of UK farmers and our agri-innovation capabilities.

 

This is not about criticising individual officials at Defra or its agencies, but about recognising that the structure we have created, of very remote, top-down Whitehall policymaking, is increasingly disconnected from the reality on the ground.

 

If we really are serious about food security, about food affordability, about sustainability, and about establishing the UK as a hub of innovation and regulatory leadership, research investment and global impact, all of which are key to the Government’s growth mission, then there is no sector more important, and more capable of delivering, than British agriculture.  

 

The United Kingdom has some of the most cutting-edge agricultural research taking place in companies, research institutes and university departments across the country. We lead the world in terms of high-citation academic publications in the agriculture-related sciences.

 

But we continue to lag behind our competitors in terms of domestic agricultural productivity growth.

 

Why is our scientific leadership not translating into inward investment, economic growth and technology-based exports?   

 

Why isn’t that potential being unlocked?

 

That is precisely why the APPG on Science and Technology in Agriculture is leading the way in calling for a major policy reset to focus on a clear, long-term objective to increase the UK’s domestic food self-sufficiency from 60% to 75% over the next 25 years, while reducing farming’s environmental impact.

 

The ambitious 30:50:50 vision we have set out will mean increasing domestic food production by 30% 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.

 

Earlier this week, I announced the All-Party Group’s planned next steps to take the 30:50:50 vision forward.

 

Over the coming months we will be hosting three separate roundtable meetings, focused on the three steps set out in the  document:

 

• the 30:50:50 target for sustainable efficient production (SEP) and the indicators it is based on - GHG emissions, land use, water use and soil health;

 

• establishing a mechanism for the collection and integration of farm data to provide a single SEP Index metric for consumers, policymakers and investors;

 

• ensuring policy is joined up to support the 30:50:50 goal across the three pillars of farming and land use, regulation of innovation, and R&D.

 

The output from these three roundtables and wider stakeholder input will inform the policy actions needed to deliver on the 30:50:50 Innovation Agenda for UK Agriculture.

 

Our recommendations will be unveiled and presented to Ministers at an APPG Agri-Science Summit in the summer. 

 

We actively encourage input and engagement from across the sector to inform and support this process, which we hope will play a key role in building cross-party and cross-industry understanding and consensus around the urgency of these issues, and the way forward.

 

George Freeman MP is chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science & Technology in Agriculture. He has been Conservative MP for Mid-Norfolk since 2010. A former UK Minister for Science, Research and Innovation, he is deputy chair of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee. He also chairs the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee.