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 & '08.
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 20th
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
