To think Britain should start growing it’s own food again?

[Vocaladvocaat]

The situation in the Ukraine clearly isn’t going to resolve any time soon. The lack of grain from Ukraine is pushing prices higher. Add in further political instability in other parts of the world to the mix. We are always told that IK farming isn’t competitive but with the rising prices, it can be and furthermore; having home grown produce is seeming like it will be more necessary in the future. AIBU?

Hundreds of acres of farmland has been built on around here (East Midlands). Good productive farmland lost forever to housing.

And only a very small proportion of our land is built on at all.

what’s your target percentage? 50%? 80?

Are you serious? 160 years ago?

Does the world today bear any resemblance to 1863? Of closer people care now.

I don't know why this question has rattled me but are you serious?

Yanbu. I live rurally surrounded by prime agricultural land. Solar panel companies are applying for planning permission to bud solar panel farms on thousands of acres. I’m seriously concerned about the nation’s ability to grow food.

Totally agree. Nothing is organic anyhow rain has chemicals in it and no matter how deep you go soil will always have substances in it. And totally agree with the rest you say also

Being energy independent would be extremely positive too. Importing energy is risky, as we've seen.

Here is an interesting article that looks at the issue in depth.

Can Britain Feed Itself? | The Land Magazine

Here is part of the conclusion, although you would probably need to read the full article to comprehend fully what he is saying.
These measures demand more human labour, and more even dispersal of both livestock and humans around the country than chemical or vegan options. Effective pursuit of livestock-based organic agriculture of this kind requires a localized economy, and some degree of agrarian resettlement. Other management systems based on synthetic fertilizers or vegan principles lend themselves more easily to the levels of urbanization currently favoured by the dominant (and mostly urban) policy makers.

@HercuIesMorse - it was a serious point. The UK has been an importer of food for many years. Even in its most dire hour, it could not have fed itself. The Germans attempted to starve us during WW2 as they did with other hostile nations to them. And they did starve.

I believe in trade. This country cannot grow all the food it needs. And that has been true for a very long time.

Does the world look worse for the UK than WW2? No. The world is unstable, but that is not the same as worrying about lack of agriculture.

Absolutely. But solar panels can go on roofs and brownfield sites. In Germany they use the central reservation and verges on motorways. Prime agricultural fields should be reserved for crops! We can do both. But the solar panel companies want the cheapest option for them so they get maximum profits.

I was in a supermarket last week
I checked the label that stated "English strawberries"
It has been an extremely hot October, but I would not have expected strawberries in October !

I often wonder why on earth we import so many tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers etc

We do! there's a farmer near me who grows a massive, huge amount of peppers, I got stuck behind his tractor the other day, his trailer was so full of peppers they were falling out everytime he went over a bump! I'm in the South of England btw

I see the quest for autarky has arrived on Mumsnet. I hope everyone is prepared to pay more for food and energy on that basis.

The production of fruits and vegetables in the United Kingdom was 3,288.5 thousand ton in 2019, which decreased to 3,263.9 thousand ton in 2020. Hot summers and high unpredictable climatic conditions were the major reasons for decreases in the yield of various crops grown in the country, including vegetable crops.

**From Modor intelligence industry analysis, not recent but you get the idea

It is under 9% classed as 'developed' currently.

It is extreme scaremongering to be discussing numbers like 50%! If we fit 70m people onto 9%, we'd only need an additional 0.x% to get the 1.5m houses Labour were discussing?

@HercuIesMorse The UK was last self-sufficient in food around 200 years ago, at the start of the 19th century. The current level is below 60% and has been steadily falling for many years.

@Trianglesandcircles1 That theory is from 50 years ago. Population changes and the changes in land use (housing, retail parks, industrial parks, roads and other infrastructure) have literally changed the landscape, and of course there has been a change in the climate and a change in the size and demographics of the population. The claim that the UK could be self-sufficient would depend on the population totally changing their eating habits and largely abandoning meat in favour of seasonal crops - and with fewer imports.

Food imports are actually not a bad thing. Going back to basic trading economics and health economics, the UK needs to import some foodstuffs such as citrus fruit for vitamin C, bananas, tea, and it needs to import food when it is out of season or simply not viable in the UK - so the country can never be totally self-sufficient unless everyone eats oats and turnips and gives up orange juice. So to pay for the imported foodstuffs, some of the UK agricultural production needs to be exported - in the form of whiskey, fish, meats, cheese etc. and other processed products such as woollen cloth.

With a bit of luck we'll soon get a government that will focus on energy security, the Tories have really held us back here. It has been frustrating.

Well, if Labour get in there won’t BE anywhere to plant food. Central and southern England will be one giant housing estate. Net migration last year was 600,000. If that continues (and let’s be honest, under a centre-left government immigration will get worse), we’ll have to build a new Manchester every year.

Make the most of the English countryside, because it’s clearly doomed. No matter how many disgusting new build estates we shove up, no matter how many red brick rabbit hutches developers jam together, it’s never enough. When I look at what’s happening near me, it makes me want to f’ing cry. All the villages round here are being ruined, and the traffic is now so bad I hardly go out. So many houses have been built I feel like I’m suffocating.

The world’s population has spiralled out of control in the last hundred years. In 1900 there were just over a billion human beings. By 1960 that had trebled to three billion. It’s now eight and heading for ten. If climate change turns large areas into barren deserts, how are we going to grow enough to feed ten billion human beings?

Okay so this really about house building. The hysteria has started already even before the nasty Labour government have arrived.

Did you check the link? The analysis was from 2009, it just refers to an older study in the introduction.

The claim that the UK could be self-sufficient would depend on the population totally changing their eating habits and largely abandoning meat in favour of seasonal crops - and with fewer imports.

Yes to seasonal eating and changed eating habits, but not largely abandoning meat, just a lot less meat. This study says that mixed farming is more promising than plants-only, or animals-only, for complex reasons to do with recycling nutrients.

Besides which we have a lot of hills that are good for nothing but sheep (and wildlife and re-forestation of course). For centuries we exported wool in exchange for luxury stuff we can't grow - but I don't think there is a market currently in the face of oil-made fabrics.

The biggest point he makes is the need for human labour on farms of this type, with big implications for re-distribution of land ownership, i.e. supporting smaller farms and preventing consolidation into mega-farms.

Population of the UK

1821 14.4 million

1923 18.4 million

2023 67.7 million

We need to drastically cut our population for starters then to have any realistic chance of self sufficiency.

Plus many more people need to work on the land - a reverse Industrial Revolution.

Unless we go Soylent Green.......

Nobody said don’t import. It’s a discussion about relying more on home grown food; for a variety of reasons including war/supply chain disruption/cost of living etc. lots of great points have been made by a variety of posters. I find the report mentioned by @Wintersgirl very interesting. On a micro level we certainly have farmer’s markets which are hugely popular, we also have artisan shops stocking locally sourced goods. Ditto organic shops. There is interest in locally grown vegan/vegetarian food. We are way too reliant on supermarkets though. I would argue that actually, these type of shops are not any more expensive than supermarkets these days as their prices are getting ridiculous.

I keep seeing local co-ops and community gardening ventures and people suggesting bigger ones so maybe that will take off in the future.

Sadly, after happy childhood going blackberry picking; I went to pick a blackberry locally and was told that’s COUNCIL PROPERTY. Clearly, the council needs blackberries to rot on bushes 🤦‍♀️

@JaneyGee

Do get off your ill-informed, panicky Tory soap box. No such thing will happen. Very little of the UK is currently built on and the proposed new builds won't add much.

NIMBYism solves nothing

Same here, we used to be surrounded by fields, many of which had 3 crops in rotation. Starting with onions or cabbages, then rapeseed (which also revitalises the soil) or wheat then potatoes or sugar beet. The farmers would also rotate sheep or cattle in the fields as a natural weedkiller/fertiliser.
Yes there are still fields and the crops, but many have been built on in the last 2 years.
Heck even the fields that used to be used for the Tendring Hundred Show (which is a country show) have been built on

And on new build houses etc

Last time I passed that it looked like all they were growing was cannabis.

Why would they need secret entrances and such security for tomatoes and cucumbers 🤔