Calls have been made for the government to introduce a Food Security and Resilience Act to ensure UK food supply is resilient if a national crisis occurs.
The National Preparedness Commission has issued a series of warnings to the government amid ongoing global uncertainty and its potential future impact on food.
The independent group of experts in national crises planning warned that UK food security was in a 'precarious state' in the face of increasing shocks and pressures.
One key recommendation was for the government to legislate for a comprehensive UK food policy, such as a new Food Security and Resilience Act, which would help ensure a more resilient food system.
Food should be reassessed as critical national infrastructure, which would require Defra to treat food security as a core component of national infrastructure planning.
The report also called for a national council for food security to be established as an advisory body to provide evidence-based, consistent advice on food resilience.
It comes as farmers have seen their fair share of crises in recent years, from the Covid pandemic to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
A couple of years ago, a combination of high production costs in the UK and bad harvests abroad meant the rationing of fresh produce in supermarkets.
Following the report's release, the NFU said that British food security was 'absolutely vital' to the nation's resilience if a future crisis did occur.
NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: "Governments can have short memories, but our ability to feed ourselves should always be a priority.
“Yet as we speak, food producing businesses are taking a battering. Conflicts continue to keep the cost of inputs such as energy and fertiliser high, while climate change has wreaked havoc on harvests.
"Domestic policy has exacerbated cashflow issues through crippling cuts to direct payments, delays to environmental schemes and this government’s brutal budget which puts family farms at risk – all of which has a direct impact on homegrown food production."
Tim Lang, emeritus professor of food policy at City St George’s, University of London, the report’s author, said the government must 'prioritise resilience at every level'.
He said: “There is a gap between the official risk and resilience framework which presents a picture that all is OK, and the realities that people in senior and frontline roles read differently.
“There is too much complacency about UK food security and civil food resilience barely features at all in forward planning.”
Lord Toby Harris, chair of the National Preparedness Commission, said British food security was a cornerstone of national resilience.
“This report highlights the urgent need for a coordinated, whole-society approach to ensure that no one in the UK is left vulnerable in the face of future crises.”
Mr Bradshaw agreed, concluding: "If the government means what it repeatedly says – that food security is critical to national security – then it will take the commission’s warning extremely seriously and follow its expert advice.”
