The UK Food Security Report 2024 – what’s important and what’s missing?

The publication of the United Kingdom Food Security Report 2024 on the same day that farmers took to the streets in protest was more than ironic. Whether a deliberate act by the government, a coincidence or cock up, it highlights that our future food security is far from clear, far from certain and that tensions between government and industry are only likely to worsen.

There have already been quite a number of good articles published about the report offering analysis on various aspects it covers. My intention is not to repeat these but to highlight some areas I find particularly concerning, as well as to flag up some issues that I believe should be included but are not (for whatever reasons)

To be fair, the report is very detailed — close to 500 pages — and will require careful, extended analysis. However, the quite extensive executive summary paints, in my opinion, a rather bleak outlook, both globally and nationally. It does so in a guarded manner but there is enough data included to point towards increasing pressures, growing stressors and a declining ability to absorb the multiple shocks our food systems will face.

I am also quite concerned, that at least at a high level, there are a number, in fact three, major issues related to global and national food security missing from the report.

Deglobalisation

I wrote about this in a previous article here, but either DEFRA does not read New Food as closely as it should or it does not consider the issue as important as I do. Countries such as India, currently a major food exporter, are increasingly prioritising self-sufficiency, and the growing list of protectionist policies emerging from more right-wing governments may well create many more barriers to international food trade than currently exist.

The rise of BRICS+

I have also written about this topic here, but again, I see no mention of the growing importance of this trade alliance in the report. BRICS+ was established as a counterbalance to Western-led institutions such as the G7 and the EU. Its enlargement plans were announced during the 2023 summit in Johannesburg, and it has since moved at an even faster pace. As of 2023, BRICS nations accounted for around 40 percent of the global population and 25 percent of global GDP.

It is now estimated that the trade alliance accounts for 30-40 percent of global agricultural production and a similar share of food trade. The influence of BRICS+ on global food security and in shaping international agricultural markets is already huge and will only increase. It is odd that we hear so many ‘fear stories’ about China in our media, but none focus on its possible domination of world food markets. Maybe if the authors of the report started reading China Daily (as I do), they might see that China thinks a ‘food power is born’ — and might start to get a little worried.

Forced Labour

The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that around 8 million people are trapped in forced labour within the global food supply system. Without full transparency about the feed and food that the UK imports, how can we know how much of what we consume has been grown, harvested, processed and transported by those in bonded labour, or even worse involves child labour? To me, this is an essential component of having a national food system based on the principles of integrity.

Given the major issues both included in the report and those omitted, I believe there is an urgent need to establish short, medium and long term strategies to ensure food security at a national level. You will probably not be surprised to read that I think our farmers are a critical part of this. and the government must fully understand the key role they currently play —and must continue to play — to ensure this can happen.