A cross-party committee of MPs have launched an inquiry into the UK's food security as supply chains continue to experience disruption.
The Environment Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) committee will look at what steps the government can take to support food production and food security.
UK food supply chains are seeing disruption caused by a range of factors, including the impacts of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, labour shortages, Brexit, and increasing energy and fertiliser prices.
As a result, food prices are rising which is affecting British consumers’ ability to access healthy food, while questions are being raised about whether the UK produces enough food of its own.
The inquiry will examine the current drivers of high food production costs, its impact on food availability and the policy solutions available to government.
It will also consider how food security should be reflected in the upcoming Land Use Strategy and what this might mean for the balance of priorities of land use.
Dr Neil Hudson MP, and member of the EFRA Committee, said the pandemic and the war in Ukraine had brought food security into sharp relief.
"Our farmers in the UK are facing increasing costs for fuel, energy, fertiliser and animal feed and are facing challenges post-Brexit in areas such as labour supply.
"I wanted our committee to again look at Food Security in these challenging times, so that we can make recommendations to government as to what we can do to bolster our resilience but also contribute to the global food crisis that is looming."
In particular, the committee will consider the government’s recently published food strategy policy paper, and Defra’s role in responding to these challenges.
EFRA has previously considered the issue of food security in its 2020 and 2021 inquiries on the Covid-19 pandemic.
The deadline for submissions is Friday 30 September 2022.
