Steve Reed MP has confirmed to businesses and industry groups from across the food sector that work is underway to develop an ‘ambitious’ new food strategy.
Defra said it wants the strategy to set the food system up for long-term success and deliver a wide range of improvements around individual and planetary health, as well as economic growth.
The department has said the food strategy will work to improve the food system to:
- Provide healthier, more easily accessible food to tackle obesity, giving children a better start to life and helping adults live longer healthier lives. This will build on the UK Government’s existing work to tackle obesity and improve health.
- Maintain food security by building resilience in the face of climate shocks and geopolitical changes and ensuring the supply chain is protected.
- Drive the investment, productivity and innovation that will ensure that the food and drink sector can realise its potential for economic growth.
- Support the Farming Roadmap to reduce the impact of farming on nature and biodiversity, and deliver a credible plan to decarbonise food and farming, while supporting the sector through that transition.
Development of the strategy will be led by Defra but with close collaboration cross-government, including with the Department of Health and Social Care and Department for Education.
Defra added that it will also be working with the food sector in ‘a new way’ to develop the strategy, which includes building ‘strong partnerships’ that allow it to draw on ‘shared expertise and collective commitments, backed by a clear vision and framework for change from government’.
To this end, the UK Government will form a coalition with food sector leaders, academics and charities, and key thinkers to corral its collective ambition, influence and effort. A new sector delivery board will ensure a joined-up and systems-wide approach, with clear impactful outcomes.
Structured engagement with food system actors to develop the strategy will begin in the new year.
The UK Government has also said it will be working with the Devolved Governments to ensure a joined-up approach, ensuring that the new strategy complements work undertaken at a national level.
“Our food and farming sectors are the corner stone of our national identity and economy. Today we celebrate the great work that farmers, growers, distributors, and manufacturers across the country that put delicious food on our tables,” a Government spokesperson told Food Manufacture.
“However, unhealthy diets are driving skyrocketing obesity rates, food security is under pressure from climate change and the way our supply chain works means some farmers are struggling to make a profit.”
“Our cross-Government food strategy will make sure our food system can continue to feed the nation, realise its potential for economic growth, protect the planet, and nourish individuals, now and in the future.
“We cannot do this alone, which is why I call on the expertise, energy and commitment across the food sector to transform the industry for good.”
The news has been welcomed by industry, with both the Food Foundation’s executive director and the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) chief executive expressing optimistic replies.
“AIC and its Members have long sought a clear strategy that will enable businesses to invest with confidence by setting out the expectations of government for the agri-food part of the UK economy,” said AIC’s chief executive Robert Sheasby.
We look forward to engaging with the Government to create a strategy which will have long-lasting benefits to boost economic growth and productivity, as well as delivering against sustainability requirements - something identified in AIC’s recently launched ‘Sustainability Action Plan’.”
“It was very reassuring to hear his [Reed’s] emphasis on securing access to nutritious food for everyone, particularly children, as well as the other important elements like building resilience of our food system to climate shocks and providing much needed support to farmers,” Anna Taylor, the Food Foundation’s lead wrote on Linked In today (11 December 2024).
She also applauded the Defra secretary of state for his use of ‘systems language’, which she said will focus minds on the outcomes of the whole system (from production to consumption).
“I’m really encouraged by this,” her post went onto read.
“All the work that Henry Dimbleby and many others (including me!) put into the National Food Strategy (Independent Review), provides a fantastic foundation and should allow Defra to jump straight into which policies should be prioritised.”
This news also follows confirmation from the Government that it has injected more than £343m into the rural economy in the first week of December 2024.
This includes payments worth £223m to Countryside Stewardship revenue customers and £74 million to Environmental Stewardship customers, administered by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA).
The Government is providing more than £5b to the farming budget and has also promised a new and improved Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) scheme will open in the new year, providing new quarterly payments designed to improve farmers’ cashflow and a rolling application window so customers can apply throughout the year.
It also includes new actions to improve flood resilience and species abundance and important funding to secure enhanced environmental benefits and deliver for nature recovery, including sensitive areas such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).
