Foresight Report is a Wake-Up Call to Government.

Successive British governments have underestimated the resources needed to meet the dual challenge of securing food and environmental security and the Foresight report - which asks farmers to grow more food at less cost to the environment - should serve as a wake-up call to the coalition government according to the CLA.

The Association said it agreed with the conclusion of the Foresight report on Global Food and Farming Futures - that a sustainable intensification of global agriculture will be required to meet the food and environmental challenges facing the world.

CLA South West Director John Mortimer said that the report had assembled the evidence and the leading thinking globally on the problem of food insecurity and although most of the world’s ‘food insecure’ population lived in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia he said that Europe still had a role to play.

“For years now the debate in Europe has been about how to achieve a mix of productive and competitive farming on the most fertile land while at the same time reducing negative environmental impacts and increasing the delivery of wildlife, landscape, climate, soil and water protection – services only farmers can deliver.”

“This report must be taken seriously. We hope it will act as a wake-up call to the Government to take a more enlightened stance to helping farmers to maximise Europe’s contribution to global food security.

Mr Mortimer said there could be no dispute that the demand for food would grow and it followed that the food producing capacity of a finite land resource would have to be increased – but, at the same time, reducing the amount of food wasted should be given greater priority and we had to remain mindful of our responsibility for the environment.

“Food producers and Government have a part to play – but so do consumers and others involved in the food chain. We have to find better ways of using the food we produce and reducing the amount which is wasted.
He said that Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy had to be capable of maintaining and increasing Europe’s capacity to produce food while arranging to pay farmers for the environmental services - landscape, biodiversity, water quality, heritage and other public goods - for which the market will not pay.
“This is at the core of the debate on the reform of the CAP which is currently underway and it is the position, we believe, the Coalition Government should support.”