DEFRA report proves farming communities are essential for food security – Carmichael

Following the release of DEFRA’s Food Security Report 2024, Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael has called on the government to recognise rural communities as “essential” to UK food security.

According to the DEFRA report, the number of “food secure” households declined from 92% to 90% between the 2019-20 and 2022-23 financial years. Low-income and disabled groups were found to be disproportionately at risk of becoming food insecure. 

The report also found that labour shortages following the UK’s departure from the EU and a spike in fertiliser costs following Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine were having a significant impact on the food supply chain.

Mr Carmichael said:

“This report is a stark reminder that farmers and rural communities are essential to our food security, our economy and indeed to the future of our environment. We should be celebrating and supporting their work, not undermining it.

“Farmers already had to suffer the consequences of botched trade deals under the previous government – and the impact of Covid and the war in Ukraine – so the last thing we need is to introduce yet more harm through an ill-thought-out tax on family farms. The government needs to think carefully about its next steps.

“Time and again I have heard from ministers past and present that “food security is national security”. It is about time that they explained what this means in practice – and how they are going to ensure that family farmers can deliver food security for us all for generations to come.”