UK Sleepwalking Into Food Supply Crisis, Farmers Union Warns

NFU president Minette Batters said British food was “under threat” with the future of British fruit and vegetable supplies “in trouble”.

Already high food prices were sure to rise further if products became harder to source, she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“This is about government prioritizing food security, and if they fail to do so we will continue to see a greater contradiction in our production, a reliance on more imports, and availability is just not going to be there,” she said.

“We are self-sufficient in eggs – it’s been a massive success story – and we now have 320 million fewer eggs for the same period this year than last year.”

But Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, said that retailers were used to managing pressures across their supply chains.

“Supermarkets source, and will continue to source, the vast majority of their food from the UK and know they need to pay a sustainable price to farmers,” he said, although they are facing additional costs.

Shoppers have been under pressure from the rapid pace of food price rises, although there are signs this may be starting to ease, according to market analysis firm Kantar.

Although food price inflation in the four weeks to 27 November was 14.6%, this edged down 0.1% from a record high in October.

This is the first time food price inflation has slowed in two years.

The war in Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic have driven up the price of food, energy, and fuel over the last year, affecting consumers and businesses alike.

Grocery prices rose at their fastest rate for 45 years in the year to October, official figures show, with the cost of staples such as milk, cheese, and eggs surging.

Steve Dresser, the boss of Grocery Insight, told the BBC that the big challenge comes from consumer appetite.

“Customers’ focus is on saving money and local foods generally come at a higher price, which can be difficult,” he said.

He said that rising prices meant farming “has taken a real battering this year”.

He went on: “Food security is increasingly important, as we saw during lockdown restrictions and indeed the period afterward that led to empty shelves.