‘Government undermining food security by not supporting farmers’
The Government is failing to support sustainable farming, which undermines the UK’s food security, researchers have said.
Analysis from the think tank Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has found that droughts, rising temperatures and increasing numbers of pests and diseases – all features of climate change – are plaguing UK food producers.
It said there is an urgent need to transform the UK’s food system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and halt the destruction of nature, which as a result would improve farmers’ ability to produce food.
Food poverty, as well as wastage, is also damaging the health of the UK public and its environment, and the Government needs to take a leading role in transforming the system, the researchers said.
Post-Brexit trade deals are undermining UK farmers and the country’s climate goals while offshoring the UK’s carbon footprint, they added, while supermarkets are dominating the market, buying at