Food security isn’t a local challenge - it is a global challenge that is inexorably linked with biodiversity decline and climate change. A stable climate underpins a healthy ecosystem; a healthy ecosystem underpins sustainable and resilient food systems. This is not a situation where we have a choice between one thing and the other. It is important to point out here that land that is not directly producing food is still contributing to sustainable food production because it is helping to maintain healthy ecosystems on a wider scale.
Responding to potential shocks to the food system, such as the war in Ukraine, by increasing the amount of land put into food production will not solve our food security issues. It is likely that growth in agricultural production will be due to increasing yields and efficiency improvements in meat and dairy production, and less due to expansions in agricultural land and herd size growth[1]. However further agricultural intensification that does not have healthy soils, biodiversity and climate change mitigation at its core will be unsustainable and not strengthen food security in the long term and render us less resilient to future shocks. In fact, removing relatively small amounts of the least productive land from the food system can actually deliver greater value and benefit to society, for example restoring peatland habitats and ecosystems that can improve soil health, increase biodiversity, and store carbon, which can indirectly increase food security.
Food production benefits from the processes that are a feature of healthy ecosystems, like nutrient cycling, natural pest control and soils that hold water and carbon. All of these processes rely on biodiversity and so food security and the diversity of the landscape that the food is produced within can not be separated. By making sure that we have healthy soils and diverse wildlife populations, the unsustainable need for inputs can be reduced and the resilience of the food production system can be improved[2], bringing us greater food security. This is particularly important at a time when the prices of inputs are rising and climate change is bringing increasingly extreme weather events.
Soil health is an extremely important factor in food production. Healthy soil should be full of bacteria, fungi and invertebrates that are the foundation of good ecosystem function. When we have these conditions in our soils, nutrients are easily available reducing the need for additional fertilizers and a well nourished crop is more resilient against pests and diseases which also reduces the need for crop protection products like pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. When food is produced in a diverse ecosystem, populations of species that would otherwise be considered pests are reduced by natural predators[3] which reduces the need for inputs even further.
In the medium and long term, climate change is a very serious threat to food security and we must be careful not to overlook this in response to short term threats. Wheat yields for example dropped by 40% in 2020 due to heavy rainfall and droughts at bad times in the growing season[4] . Although they have bounced back, this is an indicator of the effect that increasingly unreliable weather patterns due to climate change may have on future production. If we ignore the need to farm in a way that mitigates climate change in favour of an immediate boost in yields then we will only be magnifying this threat to food security.
Food security goes beyond producing as much as we possibly can. Long food supply chains involving processing, storage and distribution can be vulnerable at every step, threatening food security. As consumers we can help to limit this vulnerability by adjusting our choices, eating locally produced, seasonal foods with simple supply chains whenever we can. This will also increase UK food security by supporting our farmers, helping them to sustain their businesses through what is an extremely difficult and uncertain time.
There are also issues to be dealt with at the end of the food supply chain, where food is either wasted or simply inaccessible to people. Even before the Covid pandemic, 700,000 households in the UK used foodbanks in 2019/2020[5] because of the disparity between household incomes and the cost of living. In contrast to this, about 1/5 of food bought in the UK is wasted[6]. We believe that before pushing for an intensification of food production, it is important to examine and resolve the issues for the inequitable distribution of food both in the UK and globally.
What is good for food security is also good for farm businesses and the environment. We want to support the many farmers who are working hard to feed us, not just now but into the future too. It is important that this support also comes from the government and that farmers are able to access the financial resources they require as they adapt their farming methods and develop a more holistic approach whereby food is produced alongside nature in a way that builds healthy soils and mitigates climate change.
Here are some suggestions for how you can contribute to UK food security.
- Keep it simple when you can – Choose unprocessed food that is likely to have a short supply chain. A good way to do this is to buy local, seasonal food with as few ingredients as popssible.
- Be part of your local food economy – Find a local veg box or meat box supplier, use a milk vending machine or get involved with a Community Supported Agriculture farm. Find a shop that stocks local produce and if you can’t buy local then try and buy british.
- Check the label and ask questions – Food that is organic, grass fed or free range will have a lower impact on the environment.
- Grow your own – You can‘t get more local or seasonal that food you have grown yourself.
- Cut down on your food waste – For ideas on how to reduce your food waste visit Love Food Hate Waste
Further Reading:
Grass Fed Nation, Graham Harvey - a very good summary of building soil health using mixed farming. He explores methods for increasing productivity and nutrient density of food in a way that also benefits ecosystem processes.
Feeding Britain: Our food problems and how to fix them, Tim Lang - a forensic look at food security packed with references and pragmatic solutions.
[1] United Kingdom Food Security Report 2021: Theme 1: Global Food Availability - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
[2] 20012-NFFN-Report-Nature-means-business-DIGITAL-1.pdf
[3] Encouraging natural predators (outdoors) | Agricology
[4] United Kingdom Food Security Report 2021: Theme 2: UK Food Supply Sources - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
[5] State-of-Hunger-2021-Report-Final.pdf (trusselltrust.org)
[6] food- surplus-and- waste-in-the- uk-key-facts-oct-21.pdf (wrap.org.uk)