Following an independent review of the UK’s food system, the Government has unveiled its new food strategy, which puts a focus on home-grown food, including strengthening supply chains and boosting food production.
In 2018, the Government asked Henry Dimbleby, the Co-Founder of restaurant chain Leon and a Non-Executive Director of Defra, to carry out a comprehensive review of the food system in the UK.
Mr Dimbleby was asked to design recommendations so that the food system: “Delivers safe, healthy, affordable food; regardless of where (people) live or how much they earn” and “restores and enhances the natural environment for the next generation in this country.”
Under the terms of the strategy, which focuses on “backing farmers”, £270 million will be invested in technology to increase productivity and profitability. In addition, the Government will consult on an ambition for 50 per cent of public sector food spending to go on food produced locally or certified to a higher standard.
Meanwhile, the Government will publish a framework next year on how to help farmers grow more food while also meeting legally binding targets to halt climate change and nature loss.
However, Mr Dimbleby said that while Defra had implemented more than 50 per cent of what he recommended, he added that “it has not been done with one vision across the whole system.”
His words have been echoed by consumer group Which?, who said that the strategy “lacked ambition” and that many of the recommendations had been “watered down, ignored or put off for further consultation”. In addition, conservation group WWF said that the Government has broken its promise to restore nature at scale.
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