As farmers we want a competitive farming industry because that is what will be sustainable in the longer term.  A competitive industry is profitable, more resilient, better able to withstand financial, disease and other shocks; it is more likely to reinvest, better able to provide good working conditions, environmental benefits, and give greater choice, innovation and value to consumers as well as being less likely to require subsidy.

Over the last 20 years we have seen the output of UK agriculture decline, mainly as a result of less land in production and less livestock.  The UK’s self sufficiency has decreased too, and the average yields of our major crops have at best only marginally increased over this time, the notable exception being sugar beet. The pig sector has decreased substantially as a result of UK welfare legislation and subsequent under re-investment, whilst the poultry sector has increased substantially due to well targeted research and investment in buildings.

Industry focus

To help the farming industries become more competitive and address the food security challenge we require more research and development.

The UK Government invests about £420M per year into agriculture and food research, but my feeling is that much of this investment is in research for publication, policy and safety. What we need is a change of emphasis to more research for development and into knowledge transfer and uptake in the agricultural industry. 

To do this effectively we need a strategy for UK agriculture developed by the agricultural industry which we can take to Government and the research community so we can ensure we have research which is focused on our priorities. 

Agriculture is very different to the pharmaceutical industry which has a more linear pipeline from research to product.  Agriculture is a fragmented, multi-faceted industry which requires interaction between researchers and the practitioners to solve problems. Hence, the Commercial Farmers Group has set out its four areas for research:

1. Genetic improvement in crops and livestock exploiting the latest biotechnology (GM) methods to increase productivity (output per unit of input), to control pests and diseases, to reduce environmental impact and to increase nutritional benefits to human health.
2. Increased productivity and reduced environmental impacts of crop and livestock production systems through precision technology developments, such as using automated real-time diagnostics for disease detection in crops and livestock; individual electronically controlled feeding systems for pigs and dairy cows; investment in high quality buildings to reduce environmental impact.
3. Improvement of soil structure using crop management systems with lower energy input (per unit of output), such as no-till systems and controlled traffic wheelings in crop production
4. Prevention and control of crop and livestock diseases to minimise the incidence and impact of both endemic and exotic diseases, including surveillance and monitoring of existing and emerging diseases.; development of more vertically integrated livestock systems to reduce animal contact between herds and flocks.

Policy progress

Food security has come to the forefront of government policies around the world.  The UK can take credit for providing much intellectual leadership through Sir John Beddington’s “Perfect storm” concept and the Royal Society’s “Reaping the Benefits” report. The EU, too, has published its vision for agriculture in its proposals for Common Agricultural Policy reform; part of this vision is for a competitive EU agriculture and Caroline Spelman, the UK Secretary of State for the Defra, has stated she wishes to see a competitive UK agricultural industry. 

Organisation is important to achieving the desired goals. BBSRC has included food security in its revised strategy and the research institutes it funds, which  includes Rothamsted Research, the Institute for Animal Health and the John Innes Centre, who are aligning their research programmes to this strategy. The bringing together of different farming sectors under the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board is a welcome move to create greater critical mass and the joining up of their research programmes.

The newly formed Technology Strategy Board (TSB) Sustainable Agriculture and Food Innovation Platform has started to help fill the research gaps between the BBSRC, AHDB and the private sector. 

We have a good starting point. Now we all must work together to help UK agriculture to be more competitive and to fulfil our part in ensuring global food security.

About Jim Godfrey

Jim Godfrey is an arable and pig farmer from Lincolnshire.  He is a member of the Commercial Farmers Group, BBSRC Council member, chairman of the TSB Sustainable Agriculture and Food Innovation Platform and a non executive director of the Rural Payments Agency. He is a former chairman of the Potato Marketing Board (now the Potato Council), Scottish Crop Research Institute, The International Potato Centre in Peru and the Alliance of the 15 Consultative Group on Agricultural Research Centres (now CGIAR).

We have always been able to buy food from elsewhere and the global food market has become so efficient that the proportion of UK average income spent on food has fallen from 33% in 1957 to 15% in 2006.  If food is cheap, reliable, safe and globally abundant, why should the UK worry about local production?

In my view, there are three main reasons why we should not assume that tomorrow will be the same as yesterday.

Firstly, demand for food globally is set to increase by at least 50% by mid-century, and many sources say by much more. This is due to population increase and growing affluence in developing countries, particularly in China and India, leading to more animal protein in the diet. Global agricultural production will struggle to meet this rising demand in the face of climate change, competition for land and water, and the need to conserve biodiversity. We should make the best use of the UK’s productive capacity in order to minimise our impact on the farming systems of countries that have fewer natural advantages. 

Secondly, declining reserves of agricultural commodities and rapid changes in world prices introduce uncertainty into global markets. Maintaining optimal levels of home production offers the UK a baseline of food that is secure and safe, and helps us to trade effectively for the remainder.

Finally, we are increasingly aware of the other benefits that UK agriculture and land use deliver: clean air, clean water, flood control, biological and landscape diversity and the basis for a multi-billion pound tourist industry. Currently farmers do not get direct payments for providing these services, although their importance is recognised via income from the Common Agricultural Policy. 

As the UK population advances towards 70 million by 2031 as predicted by the Office for National Statistics, and the impacts of climate change intensify, we will need a financially viable and environmentally aware farming industry more than ever. If we take action now, we can help this process by promoting the excellence of our own agricultural produce and by encouraging best practice in farming to minimise pollution, maintain natural capital and enhance the environment.

The challenges are to maintain appropriate investment in training new farmers and in providing the industry with the best of modern technology so that the various interrelated roles of farming in the UK can be delivered effectively. A failure to do so will, in my view, expose the country to unnecessary risks in terms of reliability and safety of food and is likely to accelerate the inevitable rise in food prices as global demand begins to outstrip supply.

About Professor Chris Pollock

Chris Pollock has been involved in agriculture and land use policy for many years and has recently completed a one-year post as Chief Scientific Advisor to the First Minister in Wales. Director of the Institute of Grassland and Environment Research from 1993-2007, he is currently an Honorary Professor at Aberystwyth University, chair of the Advisory Committee on Releases into the Environment, and a member of BBSRC Council. Chris is a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society and of the Institute of Biology, a winner of the British Grassland Society Award and was made a CBE in 2002 for services to the environment.

Contact details

Professor Chris Pollock
Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences
Aberystwyth University
Aberystwyth
SY23 3DA

Email: cip@aber.ac.uk