Don’t forget the grub!

The UK’s governing party, Labour, held a conference in Liverpool last week, wherein they spoke to the forthcoming release of the new government’s industrial strategy – largely welcomed and viewed as an opportunity for British business and the wider economy to grow. 

Technology is likely to be at the heart of the work, and for good reason as the digital age progresses and, outside the US and China, the UK is right up there. Green industry from energy production to cars as well as human health and life sciences seem certain to be central features of any emerging strategy and, again, one can understand why. However, among the excitement of the new, there is a very strong case, an imperative even, to make sure that the British agri-food system is upfront, central and participating in ongoing plans. 

First and foremost, agrifood is the largest industrial system in the UK, employing 4.3 million people, many times that of the motor sector. It is also central to the energy and sustainability agendas, yet the issue of food security is one that is more not less important, and ensuring the population is properly fed is a central function of the state (whether the UK population is properly fed is an important and relevant matter here; more of which below). Accordingly, we welcome that one of DEFRA’s current policy priorities is food security, which, as part of any industrial strategy and more broadly, needs to be curated into policies where the UK is more resilient in this area, product by product. 

Additionally, the food system is central to the health agenda in the UK, especially if the National Health Service is to be relieved of pressure through preventative strategies where diet should be at the fore. From green energy and carbon perspectives, the land is at the heart of progress from renewable energy and biofuels to carbon reduction in livestock and sequestration.  

Technology will be at the heart of delivering such policy ambitions in myriad ways, as the food system becomes more digital, joined up, accurate, agile and productive. Genetics, agricultural and horticultural production systems, novel foods, advanced manufacturing, traceability, the application of AI, electronic shelf-edge labels, nutrition labelling – the list goes on – each merit collaboration across the system and application of the science and engineering that embraces our world-class universities and institutes. These issues all deserve inclusion in the UK Government’s thinking if the food system is to fulfil its economic and wider potential. 

And we must think as a United Kingdom here, making the most of the expertise in the devolved nations, and noting that agri-food is far more important to the economies and societies of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.  

The agrifood system needs to push hard for involvement in the UK Government’s evolving industrial thinking, approaching it not in silos but in a progressive, integrated and joined up manner. One hopes that the leaders of both the system and government, not just DEFRA, are thinking likewise; the need is enormous, the opportunities massive, and failure to do so is a modern-day sin.