Self-sufficiency in the UK has fallen from 75 per cent to 60 per cent for all food, and from 87 per cent to 74 per cent for indigenous foods since the early 1990s.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the world’s farmers will need to increase production by at least 70 per cent between now and 2050 to meet the increased demand for food.
NFU president Peter Kendall said: “Producing more from our own resources strengthens the security of our food supplies, is a safeguard against food price inflation caused by shocks on world markets and must become a key strategic priority over the years ahead.
“We are facing farming’s greatest challenge. Not only do we have to deliver a step change in productivity, but we have to do it at the same time as reducing our environmental impact, using fewer non-renewable resources, in an increasingly volatile climate.”
Kendall believes that it is possible to become self-sufficient, but farmer will have to maximise the advantages of modern science and technology to help us produce more whilst impacting less. “The days when we could neglect our own farming potential and import the balance of our food needs cheaply from around the world are over."
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