Curry calls on policy makers to back UK farming

Sir Don Curry, chairman of the government’s Sustainable Farming and Food Implementation Group, has backed the growing band of experts calling for greater recognition of UK farming in ensuring future national food security.

Curry’s comments followed a similar missing_the_pointand_must_support_us,_say_farmers.html">warning​ by National Farmers’ Union president Peter Kendall, who criticised the government for its failures to recognise the challenges farmers currently face.

Presenting last week’s Food and Drink Federation’s (FDF’s) Community Partnership Awards, Curry expressed his concern that policy decisions did not always take proper account of the “interdependence” of the food chain. He was particularly critical of the view held by some policy makers that farming was not important to the economy as the UK was a rich nation that could afford to import its food needs.

Although farming might just account for around 0.5% of gross domestic product and employed a decreasing number of people, Curry said “the consequences of ignoring the farming sector are huge”. “If you don’t recognise the interdependence of food enough when making policy decisions then you will make mistakes.”

The rural economy, underpinned by farming, was tremendously important to the nation, argued Curry. “It would be a disaster if we lose the UK farming base,” he warned. “So many other issues are linked to our production of food.”

Curry went on: “We need consumers to appreciate when they fill their shopping baskets that they are making really important decisions. We need to get the message across to consumers, but also to policy makers as well.”

Curry, who chaired the FDF’s 2008 Community Partnership Awards judging panel, presented the awards to winners at a lunch at the Churchill Museum and War Rooms in London last week.

Divided across four categories: Local Community; Culture, Media and Sport; Workplace; and Education, Curry presented 25 awards in total. The winners of the Gold awards were Kettle Foods and Warners Retail in the Local Community Category; Coca-Cola Great Britain in the Culture, Media and Sport Category; Coca-Cola Enterprises and Tyrrells in the Education Category; and Ginsters, Tate & Lyle and The Authentic Food Company in the Workplace Category.