Memorandum submitted by the Agricultural
Industries Confederation (AIC) (SFS 32)
AIC SUBMISSION:
EFRA Committee Inquiry—Securing Food Supplies
up to 2050: the challenges for the UK
SUMMARY
AIC represents the UK agricultural supply industry,
companies involved in the supply of inputs to producers and the
purchase of combinable crops from farms.
AIC holds the view that the UK food system is
robust and in the primary chain has worked hard together in recent
years to develop independently audited and accredited assurance
schemes which have supported a robust system but which have also
added transparency. AIC believes therefore that the industry is
well placed to respond to the challenges which will arise in the
next 40 years.
AIC would place the industry's access to technology
at the heart of future strategy. Whilst certain technologies will
be dependent on consumer acceptance there is a wider issue regarding
access to technology and a functioning and properly funded agricultural
science base. Allied to this government needs to recognise the
role played in transferring science knowledge into practical on-farm
applications.
Resource protection will play a critical part
in securing future food supplies but this has to build on mapping
and understanding resources such as soil before interpretation
and advice can be generated.
Indicators suggest Northern Europe will be one
of those areas most looked to in order to deliver the increased
production demands and Defra will be looked to for leadership
and in galvanising government departments to balance the food,
feed and non-food needs of the future.
SUBMISSION
1. AIC is the UK's leading representational
body for the agricultural supply industry. Representing companies
involved in the manufacture and supply of fertilisers and animal
feeds, the purchase and marketing of combinable crops and the
supply of seeds, agrochemicals and feed materials to UK farmers.
AIC represents both private and farmer controlled businesses.
The annual turnover of member businesses is approximately £7.8 billion.
2. AIC would begin by questioning the factors
contributing to the rise in food prices in 2007-08. Studying the
data for maize and wheat, two of the most traded commodities,
globally, it can be seen that during the period 2000-01 to
2007-08 overall demand for wheat and maize rose by 5.4% and
27% respectively. During that same period stock levels fell by
42% and 27% respectively whilst production levels remained relatively
static. The absence of any increased production over the period
is a natural reaction to a prolonged period of relatively low
prices and therefore, we would argue, as important a factor and
would help to explain the price reaction to the weather affected
harvests in 2007 and 2008.
3. Within the primary chain and through
to first processing we would argue the UK has a robust food chain
with a high level of transparency being one of its strengths.
Transparency is one feature which has allowed the UK industry
to lend itself so readily to the development of assurance schemes
with their independence of audit operating to internationally
recognised standards. It is one of the strengths of the UK system
that the development of assurance is now being adopted by a number
of other countries, both in the EU and beyond.
4. In common with most other countries in
the developed world, the UK has a highly developed agricultural
sector which places a strong reliance on the use of science and
technology for its advancement. We will return to the importance
of the science base later in the submission however there is a
considerable concern within the whole of the food industry that
the UK Government has not hitherto placed sufficient importance
on the maintenance of a strategic science resource and this will
have a negative impact on the UK's ability to meet the demands
likely to be placed on it with regard to future food security.
5. Sustainable food production is a driver
which we believe all UK industry will readily sign up to. A definition
of sustainable production must reflect the financial sustainability
of those within the industry but we believe this is a concept
now fully recognised by policy makers. True sustainability does
however also need to recognise the need for the industry to be
sustainable against its business competitors. The challenges on
improving agricultural output over the next 40 years are
clear, as are the expectations being placed on the UK, other parts
of northern Europe and North America. Such challenges will only
be met successfully through a mature debate on delivering sustainability
and an acceptance that environmental evolution rather than preservation
is a key part of that process.
6. The challenges from now to 2050 are
perhaps put into context by the ISAAA Chairman, Clive James, who
is quoted as saying "In the next 50 years, mankind will
consume as much food as we have consumed since the beginning of
agriculture 10,000 years ago."
7. AIC would readily recognise the role
which soil quality and soil management have to play going forward.
One of the main issues to be addressed in this area, which is
perhaps also relevant, although to a lesser extent, for water
quality, is the inherent variability within farms. Through bodies
such as the Environment Agency there have been considerable steps
taken on soil mapping which we believe will be of major benefit
in the years to come. This work must however be supported by the
resource and expertise to interpret the mapping data and convert
that information into tangible advice for farmers and growers.
We believe this is a positive message and would look to Defra
to ensure that the structures remain in place for this work to
be concluded and its full benefit delivered. The successful understanding
and management of soil will be a major factor in the period to
2050 as predictions suggested the loss of around half of
all currently cultivated land, globally, through management issues
such as over-grazing, excessive irrigation and resultant problems
of salinity.
8. Globally it is estimated as much as 70%
of food production is dependent on irrigation and current aquifer
depletion is running at twice the recharge rate. It is difficult
to see how an increasing population, can be fed from roughly the
same area of land without even greater pressure being put on the
usage of water. Water availability is therefore an issue and we
believe governments must explore the whole range of options, technical
and others, to determine how we meet this challenge.
9. As one of the organisations behind the
creation of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Science &
Technology in Agriculture, AIC is a strong believer in the need
for a more robust and better funded structure to enable both the
transfer of "blue sky" research into applied, commercial
situations and greater transfer of R&D outcomes to farm level.
The position of agricultural R&D was well highlighted in the
House of Lords debate on 20 January, initiated by Lord Selborne,
as was the demise of a number of bodies which have had a role
to play in the areas previously mentioned. Whilst the Agricultural
and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB) can play a role in
ensuring effective delivery of new knowledge into practical on-farm
application, and indeed some of its sector bodies have a long
history in doing just that, it is important to look beyond this
to the R&D pipeline for UK agriculture. If the UK is serious
about maintaining its position as a food producer but also wishes
to see agriculture deliver solutions to some of society's wider
issues such as renewable energy, then it must recognise the pivotal
role that science plays and support it accordingly.
10. One of the potential weaknesses we would
see to the UK food system going forward is that of personnel.
The increasing average age of producers has oft been documented
but this is a position common across many other parts of the primary
agricultural food and feed chain. Our own previous assessments
foresee approximately 75% of middle and senior managers retiring
within the next decade and there are significant concerns on the
availability of successors. With increasing market opportunities
going forward, coupled with a continual demand on knowledge and
technology transfer, the provision of an appropriate training
structure is crucial.
11. AIC welcomes the recent statements by
the Secretary of State on the importance of food production in
the UK and we have welcomed the pro-science stance taken by the
UK in areas such as biotechnology and the recent review of pesticides
legislation. We do however share with the rest of the agricultural
sector a sense of frustration that these positive messages are
seemingly undermined by Defra's actions to unilaterally impose
on English growers production restrictions and constraints. Whilst
it is not appropriate to explore this in detail in this submission,
it is a suitable example of the confused signals Defra needs to
avoid sending out.
12. If the UK is serious about rising to
meet the future production challenges, whether that be food, feed
or non-food, Defra must play its part in delivering other relevant
departments. From an industry perspective we would expect to see
Defra giving clear leadership. The UK has a sound productive base
which utilises technology in modern production and processing
practices. There is a high degree of transparency with assurance
offering an independently verifiable check on practice. We would
expect to see Defra play its part in extolling the virtues of
the UK production system to other EU member states (many of whom
are following the UK lead in areas such as assurance). The UK
agricultural industry has, perhaps more so than any other part
of the EU, turned its face fully to the market in reaction to
CAP review and developed a structure to deliver the needs of that
market, today and tomorrow. In doing so however the industry and
Defra need to be alive to the potential for short term protectionism
which may exist elsewhere and which was seen in a number of third
countries over the past two years.
January 2009
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