South Holland's NFU Branch says Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government needs to act now to secure British food production or face risk of empty supermarket shelves

In our regular Word on the Ground column, Andrea Thorpe of Holland NFU, calls on the Government to help support British agriculture.

Urgent action is needed to secure home-grown food

The UK Government currently faces a stark choice, back British food production in order to secure a home-grown supply of sustainable food or risk more empty shelves in the nation’s supermarkets.

NFU President Minette Batters, pictured, spoke at length on this issue to members when she recently attended our Branch annual meeting.

Pictures of empty egg shelves are commonplace and UK fruit and veg growers are under massive pressures due to soaring energy costs and workforce shortages.

Other farming sectors could soon be under threat from immediate supply issues caused by a lack of fairness for farmers and growers throughout the supply chain.

Minette has urged the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, to honour the commitments he made to support British farmers through the energy crisis and to set a target for the nation’s food security, with a statutory duty to report on domestic food levels.

Minette stated that shoppers up and down the country have for decades had a guaranteed supply of high-quality affordable food produced to some of the highest animal welfare, environmental and food safety standards in the world.

That food, produced with care by British farmers, is critical to our nation’s security and success.

But British food is under threat and we need government and the wider supply chain to act now.

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