Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers’ Union, shone a light on the present instability of the UK food system at a recent conference focused on defence
NFU president Tom Bradshaw spoke about the importance of food security for the country’s national security during a discussion at this week’s Cityforum 2026 Intelligent Defence and Smart Power in London, highlighting the instability of our current food system.
The conversation focused on ‘A New Era for Defence: Risk, Deterrence, and a Whole-of-Nation Response’, with the aim of bringing food and farming to the centre of the national security agenda.
“From the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine, to Brexit, the pandemic and the escalating challenges of climate change and extreme weather,” Bradshaw said, “the world as we knew it 20 years ago has been fundamentally transformed, and our approach to food security must keep up.”
The NFU pointed out that the conflict in the Middle East was the biggest driver of hunger in the world today, as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz sent “shockwaves through the food supply chain”, causing fertiliser, fuel and energy prices to soar.
Bradshaw said that now more than ever, building a resilient food system needs to be a priority.
“Food security is the beating heart of our national security, yet the longer the UK continues to prioritise a ‘just-in-time’ model over a far more resilient ‘just-in-case’ approach, the goal of true food security risks slipping further out of reach,” he said. “British farmers and growers are proud to feed 70mn people every day, but this is no light work. Whether it’s grappling with the weather, restrictive planning policies, pests and diseases or rising input costs, farmers and growers are certainly resilient, but at what cost?”
Bradshaw urged the government to recognise that now was the time for words to be transformed into action.
“We are calling on the government to implement a long-term plan for farming and food production that reflects the urgent situation we are in,” he explained. “From the Chair of the National Preparedness Commission to the former Director of MI5, the view that food security is central to our national security is widely held. While we’ve had warm words from the government ‘that food security is national security’ we haven’t yet got the policy that recognises a resilient food system is the cornerstone of national resilience and they need to start acting now.”
The scale of the challenge faced by the NFU in making food security a national priority became crystallised with the headline-stealing resignation of UK defence minister John Healey and armed forces minister Al Carns over the size of defence funding – a likely message to Keir Starmer’s successor as much as to the beleaguered PM himself.
