Monday October 31 is the day on which the United Nations has estimated that the world’s population will reach seven billion. That is seven billion reminders, says the NFU, of why the potential of farming needs to be tapped as never before, in the UK as much as in the rest of the world.
NFU President Peter Kendall said that, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the world’s farmers would need to increase production by at least 70 per cent between now and 2050 to meet the increased demand for food generated by population growth and dietary change.
"We are facing farming’s greatest challenge", said Mr Kendall. "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.
"Farmers can deliver, but only if we make the very best use of everything that science and technology can offer us, in the context of political, commercial and regulatory frameworks that are geared to helping us produce more, while impacting less.
"And this is not a challenge that the UK can opt out of. We owe it to ourselves and to the rest of the world to reverse the slide in output which has seen self-sufficiency in the UK fall 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.
"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.
"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. October 31 will provide seven billion reminders of why that statement is true."
