Food 2030: the UK’s national food strategy
Defra has launched Food 2030, the government’s new food strategy – and the first for 50 years – on 5th January 2011.
Food 2030 is a national food strategy that has been developed across government and will give direction and coherence to food policy not only within Whitehall and its agencies but also across the private and voluntary sectors.
The strategy was developed in partnership with the food and farming industries as well as consumer groups, the third sector and international organisations, and we will work with as many of these as possible to implement it. Defra also ran an online discussion forum where members of the public, as well as businesses and the third sector, were invited to suggest answers to the key challenges facing our food system and respond to each other’s ideas. A diverse range of stakeholders participated in the forum.
The long term sustainability of our food system is the central concern for Food 2030. A plentiful supply of healthy, safe and affordable food is essential for a good quality of life, and our ability to produce this food depends on the way we manage and maintain the natural systems that provide the essential inputs and services for our farms and fish stocks; clean water, fertile soil and pest control are all provided for free by healthy ecosystems.
Food 2030 addresses sustainable development through its stated priorities, including:
- Enabling and encouraging people to eat a healthy, sustainable diet
Creating a market demand for sustainably produced food. - Ensuring a resilient, profitable and competitive food system
Essential for sustainable development in the UK as without the relevant skills and investment the UK’s food system will be unable to adapt to more sustainable practices. - Increasing food production sustainably
A vital goal for feeding a growing world population and must be done in ways that protect and enhance the environment. Defra is using tools such as the Environmental Stewardship schemes and the Rural Development Programme for England to support farmers and help them meet their environmental responsibilities. This goal must also be meet through international development programmes, helping farmers in developing countries reduce post-harvest losses and make more efficient use of their natural resources. - Reducing the food system’s greenhouse gas emissions
Climate change is a major threat to the sustainability of our food system, and the UK Government’s Climate Change Act 2008 introduced a legally binding obligation to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% on 1990 levels by 2050. An estimated 22% of emissions from economic activity in the UK come from the food chain, so major reductions will have to be made here if we are to meet our targets. Our paths towards this goal include reducing electricity use and increasing the proportion of energy that is generated sustainably. We also need to help food businesses decarbonise their production methods help consumers identify low carbon products in the shops.
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The new food strategy is to be welcomed.
In trying to educate our visitors about the impact of unsustainable agricutural practices worldwide on the conservation of the species we hold we have struggled up until recently. The interpretation problem has been how to raise awareness while not further adding to negative messages we already show about human impact. We addressed this visitor education through a novel project, one that puts forward technological solutions to address these issues in a novel and proactive way.
We at Paignton Zoo have been workng closely with a new technology company to bring the first Vertical Farm to the public. The farm called VertiCrop is also an exhibit in the centre of the zoo. This project was going to be undertaken outside of the public realm until a chance meeting between our Curator of Plants and the then horticultural developmental manager at a green solutions festival.
The project is now fully operational and producing fresh leaf vegetables for our animals using 1/6th of the water of conventional agricultural practices and without food miles. It uses a 3m high stack of trays suspended on a conveyor system to grow 11200 plants on an area 10m by 10m.
The reason I bring it to your attention is that this system is one potential way to work alongside traditional farming practices to provide food security. It does not require soil and can be combined with any number of sustainable technologies (alternative power generation, combined heat and power, LED lighting), it can use rain water harvested from urban centres, it can be placed inside, on top or underneath buildings so for the first time agriculture can be placed on a commercial scale in urban centres.
I don’t want to sound like a sales advert for this system but we are very excited about the potential of this technology – see the following link for more information http://www.valcent.eu/PDF/Valcent%202010_p561_use_valcent.pdf
If anyone would like further information I would be happy to share what we have with them. We are currently developing school programmes to explore this technology, for science, environmental and biological areas of the curriculum.
The project has already achieved its aims and objectives for the zoo. The visitors are coming to enjoy and learn about the zoos threatened animals and plants. They now leave understanding that technology may also be able to help ensure we (people) do not further compromise their natural habitats as we look to provide a sustainable future for our own kind.
We are proposing a research program on food security for Melbourne (Australia) and its hinterland. So I am very interested in your strategy and how you managed to get people talking together seriously. At the moment Australia produces a lot of agricultural commodities but I doubt if it will have much to export in 30 – 50 years time unless people start recognizing the problems here and work together.
I have a summary of our proposal if you are interested. After 4 March 2010 my email will be q.farmarbowrs@gmail.com — I am changing employers (leaving La Trobe University)
I am glad that Defra is working to inform people about the environment. The world is at a stage where politicians should step aside and allow friends of the earth to save the environment. There is a misunderstanding about climate change and the warming itself that’s why am happy about the work of Defra and hope that every-one should come together while others provide resources to meet human needs. Friends of the earth should preserve the environment.
I welcome government looking at the food strategy, when will it start?
I have read Food 2030, numerous other links, and the comments, and it adds up to the 20th century solution of passing the problem to the future.
In 2030 I will be 90 …. if I make it that far, what does concern me is the implications for my off-spring, and the other young and un-born who have no say on the issue.
Science will not find an answer, it magnifies the issue by supporting the unsustainability of …… population growth.
From 2bn to 6.9bn in my lifetime, and you talk about sustainability!!!!
If(?) you achieve the objective of feeding xbn in 2030, what will happen after 2030?
At what point will the demand for resources exceed the planets ability to supply?
To say never is denial of reality, oil is one example, when it takes a gallon of oil to retrieve a gallon of oil it becomes pointless.
When/if/before we reach that point, the prospects of feeding the population becomes a predictable zero.
Alternatives: none if one calculates the true energy inputs, manipulating figures to own best advantage has had predictable results in finance.
A good start to Food 2030 (and beyond) would be to address the cause and consequences, not a symptom.