Farming provides valuable income and jobs to rural communities like those in the East Grinstead and Uckfield constituency - supporting the growth of the sector should be a key component of the Government's priority of growing the economy. I commend the invaluable and essential work of our farmers across the country and will continue to support our farming industry and our rural communities to the hilt.
I firmly believe the new Labour Government must commit to tackling contractual unfairness that can exist in the agri-food supply chain and Ministers should work to support farmers and ensure they get fair prices for their products. To that end, the previous Conservative Government commissioned the Fresh Produce Supply Chain Review to enhance fairness in the industry, helping British farmers and growers secure a fair return while ensuring consumers continue to enjoy access to high-quality, fresh British produce.
I am committed to backing British farmers and believe it's only right that producers should be paid a fair price. You can read more here:
Mims Davies MP Backs British Farming Day | Mims Davies
With the review now concluded, I would like the Secretary of State to confirm whether he intends to implement the proposed regulations that were developed in collaboration with the industry. These measures, aimed at creating clearer contractual frameworks, would ensure better protection for producers and help level the playing field.
It’s also extremely important the UK has a highly resilient food supply chain which copes well in responding to unprecedented challenges. Under the last Government, officials in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) were in regular contact with major grain traders, manufacturers and food retailers to understand the impacts of global events on supply chains. I hope this continues under the new Government.
I understand our overall food import dependency on Ukraine and Russia is very low, and the UK has strong domestic production on many of the same products which these nations produce and export. We currently produce 60 per cent of all the food we need and 73 per cent of that which we can grow in the UK. These figures have changed little over the past 20 years.
I am assured that the UK is largely self-sufficient in wheat production, growing 81 per cent of all the wheat that we need here. We are 86 per cent self-sufficient in beef, fully self-sufficient in liquid milk and produce more lamb than we consume. Further, the UK is currently 91 per cent self-sufficient in eggs and we are nearly 100 percent self-sufficient in poultry, carrots and swedes. Sectors like soft fruit have seen a trend towards greater self-sufficiency in recent years with an extended UK season displacing imports.
While the last Government's Food Strategy set out the importance of maintaining and boosting the UK's food security, and included plans to strengthen supply chain resilience, the Labour manifesto included a target for half of all food purchased across the public sector to be locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards. I will hold the new Government to account to deliver on this pledge.
