The issue of food security is one that directly relates to public understanding of where food comes from, and how it is produced. Driven by celebrity chefs and organisations such as Why Farming Matters, interest is growing, but only very slowly. Asked where peas come from, children in a primary school were adamant they came from the freezer cabinet in the supermarket. The same children were asked to identify peas in a pod and only one child was able to answer.
Statisticians predict a global population of 9.2 billion by 2041. Feeding this number of people will be difficult - and arguably impossible if the horticulture industry cannot attract motivated new entrants.
Just at a time when the industry needs to recruit more people, the number of degree courses in production horticulture has been reduced and Hadlow College is now one of the few offering a BSc (Hons) programme in this subject. The reduction relates to lack of demand from potential students who are unaware of the diverse, challenging and progressive career opportunities the industry offers.
It will be sad if food is only really valued when supply is threatened.
VIEWPOINTS
Jamie Weir - CPRE Protect Kent
We believe people will recognise that production horticulture is the keystone to food security when the situation is bad enough. However, the real challenge is ensuring that we have enough high-quality land left grow crops on. This will mean ensuring development is truly sustainable, and we aren't building on land that we will need in the future for food production.
Douglas Jackson - Laurence Gould Partnership
Broadly in the UK, the general population has not - and does not -experience food shortages, therefore food is not valued. As food becomes scarce, so people will place a greater value on it, and understanding of where food comes from will grow.
There is a need for a proactive approach led by government, but with industry buy-in to educate the population about our food-production potential. The industry should also promote the high quality of production in the UK in terms of food safety as well as security.
Dr Chris Atkinson & Dr Ursula Twomey - East Malling Research
It is probably true that the UK public currently has little understanding of the concept of ‘food security’, whereas previous generations have faced food shortages and very limited access to products we now consider as basic requirements.
It is even more challenging to consider how we might produce more food in what is described as a more ‘sustainable’ way. However, that is one of the challenges that EMR faces - with its many collaborators - in promoting and developing approaches that consumers recognise as benefiting the need for horticultural production to increase capacity to deliver healthy, sustainable food supplies.
Julie Monkman - Produced in Kent
Rural organisations and institutions are being left to take responsibility for making the public aware of the importance of future food security, when actually the supermarkets should take far more responsibility for this, not to mention providing as much support as possible for the UK’s production horticulture industry.
No comments yet