Farmer’s criticise plan that warns climate crisis will lead to food price shocks and shortages

The climate crisis will lead to food price shocks and shortages, the government has warned in its new plan for British farming. But farmers criticised the plan , which outlines for the first time the government’s vision for the long-term direction of farming, for failing to adequately fund a response to this threat to the UK’s food security. In the plan, published on Wednesday, the government warns that geopolitical instability, the climate crisis, environmental degradation and supply chain disruptions are affecting the UK’s food security. It warns this could increase the risk of “severe food price shocks” and in some “extreme situations, lead to reduced availability of certain foods”. The climate crisis is already affecting food prices – for example, potato prices rose by 22% in the UK during January and February 2024 after heavy rain the previous year. A key solution to this, the plan says, is a shift away from fertilisers and pesticides and towards more sustainable farming systems. “Nature-friendly farming systems can sustain or enhance production while strengthening resilience and reducing input dependency. Too often, the debate around farming and the environment is framed as a trade-off, with food production on one side and nature recovery on the other. But the most resilient farms are profitable precisely because they work with the environment, not against it,” the report says. …