Food 2030 - Defra's vision for food published

‘Food 2030’ looks forward to a starkly different world in 2030 where - in spite of population growth and climate change - people around the world eat healthily, food is grown sustainably, and those who produce it get a fair deal. But do the steps set out in the strategy head us in the right direction?

Dr. Tom MacMillan, executive director of the Food Ethics Council says:

“Our assessment is that the strategy is a hotchpotch of existing measures like the Change4Life health and WRAP waste campaigns, and reiterates the UK’s current position on European farm policy, world trade and others. It is disappointing to see how far the government has backpedalled from the relatively interventionist agenda of the Food Matters report 18 months ago, retreating to shouting from the side-lines, urging farmers to produce more food with less, and consumers to keep our plates and bins a bit emptier. It’s a sad fact that we’re already told to do those things, and they’re simply not working.

“Ultimately, the government’s hopes of tackling environmental problems and improving food security hinge on Britain and the rest of the world farming, processing and eating food more efficiently. But this would squeeze the very people most vulnerable to food insecurity, climate change and all the other problems we’re trying to avert. It’s one of the fundamental contradictions in the report and threaten to scupper its ambitions. Another is consumption. The report tells us to eat and waste less, but experience shows that what we save through less waste, we spend on other unsustainable goods. Is it really possible to eat sustainably in an economy that depends on consumption growth?

“Conservative environment shadow Nick Herbert backed the Competition Commission’s call for a supermarket ombudsman and “honest” labelling at the Oxford Farming Conference. Yet the Tories face their own big contradictions. How do they square their overt localism and support for farmers with their equally strident commitment to a global free trade free-for-all? The government and the Conservatives both say food is important. The announcements in Oxford show that neither takes it seriously enough to address the problems face on.”
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Notes to editors
1 The Food Ethics Council works towards a food system that is fair and health for people and the environment.
2 Food 2030 can be found here.