UK urged to act fast on food security as climate threats grow

• Winter floods ravage wheat crops, fuelling price pressure
• Government plans to boost home-grown harvests
• Calls for more aid to climate-hit farmers overseas

LONDON - A sodden British winter that battered wheat crops during weeks of flooding has prompted renewed calls for urgent action to shore up the country's long-term food security from extreme weather linked to climate change.

Research published this week estimated that the record floods could reduce Britain's ability to feed itself by nearly 10% due to a reduced crop area and poor yields.

"There's a real need to invest significantly in our own farming and food systems to make (them) more resilient to climate change," said Tom Lancaster, head of land, food and farming from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), the think-tank that conducted the new research.

Wheat production has been particularly badly hit by flooded fields, the ECIU research found, meaning the country could become dependent on imports for about a third of its grains, with self-sufficiency declining from an average of 92% between 2018 and 2022.

This means prices for staples like bread, biscuits and beer could have to increase - bringing more pain for consumers hurt by a years-long cost-of-living crisis.

Britain produces just 17% of the fruit and 55% of the vegetables it consumes, according to a draft of the government's new annual UK Food Security Index published this week.

It said indicators of food security were broadly stable but warned of the longer-term risk from climate change.

At a "Farm to Fork" meeting on Tuesday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak laid out plans to invest in domestic production of fruit and vegetables to reduce reliance on imports.

'More vulnerable'

Political and economic shocks such as Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine highlighted concerns about global food security, which is already threatened by the escalating effects of climate change.

At the COP28 climate talks in Dubai in December, more than 130 countries including Britain agreed to incorporate food and farming into national climate action plans for the first time.

Farming and environmental groups say much quicker action is needed to prepare agriculture for erratic weather.

"It's these all-or-nothing periods of rainfall that we're really concerned about, because they both lead to reduced crop yields," said Hannah Cloke, professor of hydrology at Britain's University of Reading.

According to a report last year from Britain's Climate Change Committee, the government's independent advisory body, agriculture stands out as a key economic sector without a strategy to adapt to climate change.

"It leaves us more vulnerable to global food price fluctuations," Cloke told an online press conference.

What is food security?

While domestic production is key, food security does not refer simply to a country's level of self-sufficiency but having access to sufficient affordable and nutritious food.

For British consumers, that includes supplies of everyday foods like bananas and olives that are not produced in Britain, Lancaster said.

"Any credible policy on food security and addressing the impact of climate change on food security will look far beyond the UK's borders," he told Context, adding that aid to boost the resilience of farmers in climate-vulnerable countries was in  Britain's direct interest.

British shoppers are already starting to feel climate-linked price shocks, he added, for instance when the price of chocolate Easter eggs surged this year following extreme weather in cocoa-producing West Africa.

Ahead of a British general election due later this year, a group of leading NGOs, food companies and farming associations released a joint statement calling on the next government to implement a new strategy including help for farmers to transition to sustainable methods, and targets for nature protection.

Helen Browning, chief executive of the Soil Association and one of the signatories, said more investment in infrastructure such as reservoirs on farms would be needed.

She said farmers should embrace agroforestry, combining agriculture with trees, which can provide shelter for livestock, protect crops and help to dry out soils after floods.

"We can't rely on imports coming in from other countries because they're going to be in a bigger climate mess as we are," she added.

(Reporting by Jack Graham; Editing by Helen Popper.)