Green Party calls on George Eustice to organise an Emergency Food Resilience Summit
24 September 2021
- Urgent need to address supply chain issues, rebuild local food economies, and move towards more plant-based food for a climate emergency
After weeks of bare shelves in many shops due to the impacts of Brexit and Covid-19 there are now further threats to food supplies from an emerging energy crisis. The Green Party says urgent action is needed to build resilience into the UK’s food supply systems.
Jonathan Elmer, Green Party spokesperson for the Natural World, said:
“The complex and multifaceted food crisis means there is a risk many will go hungry this autumn. That is why the Green Party is calling for an Emergency Food Resilience Summit to address questions of food supply and food poverty.
“Covid, Brexit and now the rise in gas prices have shown the lack of resilience in our food system. Importing nearly half of our food [1] and depending on lengthy supply chains leaves us highly vulnerable.
“A resilient food system would bring producers and consumers closer together. Farmers markets and local food coops, including community-supported agriculture, can make high-quality affordable food available locally, while also ensuring that more of the value of production stays with the farmer.
“We also need a public debate over how to change our eating habits in ways that help rather than worsen the climate crisis. Greens have long called for less meat eating and more plant-based food, alongside re-localised food supply chains, to reduce the climate impact of what we eat.”
The Green party also want a Food Resilience Summit to address the problems farmers and food producers are facing as a result of the UK leaving the single market and customs union.
Former Green MEP, Molly Scott Cato, who used to sit on the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee, said:
“Greens want the government to urgently conclude a veterinary deal with the EU and move towards rejoining the customs union. This would help British farmers rebuild the huge export losses they have sustained as a result of Brexit [2].”
Notes:
[2] Brexit: food and drink exports to EU suffer ‘disastrous’ decline: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/sep/02/brexit-uk-food-drink-exports-eu-disastrous-decline