7 September
Dear Ranil Jayawardena,
Congratulations on your appointment as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Among the many weighty responsibilities of your new position is the oversight of Britain’s agricultural policy and food security strategy. You will already be aware that our country has been brewing a crisis in food security for some time, and recent world events have demonstrated our vulnerability to international supply shocks, with knock-on impacts for consumers.
This is a topic about which I wrote to your predecessor, George Eustice, back in March. I hope that you can improve on his record not only by replying to this letter on Collate but also by working swiftly toward a new food security strategy for Britain that will wake us from our policy slumber and compel real action.
The fact that the UK imports almost half of its food exposes the country to market shocks in global food availability and prices, whereas in 1984, we were 78% self-sufficient. Domestically, food costs of course have a particular impact within the context of a broader cost of living crisis, although the greatest root causes of that crisis lie elsewhere in housing costs and stagnating real incomes. While the government will doubtless need to intervene in the short term to ensure that families on low incomes can afford to eat, the subject of this letter, like the one I penned to Mr Eustice, is the longer-term resilience that we must build into our food supply. I believe that one crucial aspect of a sustainable food system is to empower more individuals to grow some of their own food.
It is a matter of national pride that the Dig for Victory campaign during WWII saw immense success in reducing Britain’s reliance on food imports. The Royal Horticultural Society reports that by the end of the war, nearly 1.4m allotments were responsible for producing 1.3m tonnes of produce. Fast forward to the present, and the number of allotments is greatly diminished, but demand is soaring. People absolutely want to grow their own food, for the host of benefits to their health and wellbeing, as well as to save money.
As an allotmenteer, I can personally attest to these broad-ranging positives, including sizable (and delicious!) yields of fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs that feed myself and my family, greatly reducing the amount we have to buy at the supermarket. But infamously long allotment waiting lists are still growing. A recent study found that 37% of councils report more than a thousand people on waiting lists for allotments. Over a third of councils say they are looking to increase their allotment provision, but the lack of funding and a cohesive national strategy is seeing them fall short.
Mr Jayawardena, we need a system-level change here. We need to treat allotments and other urban spaces seriously as contributors to national food production. We need to empower people to produce food themselves and reduce their vulnerability to supermarket price hikes. In doing so, we will also see improvements in physical and mental health, in community cohesion, in carbon emissions and in biodiversity.
What would a system-level change look like? An immediate measure would be to meaningfully increase local government funding for allotments and community garden schemes, to pay for overdue maintenance on existing sites and acquisition and conversion of land for new sites. This could be accompanied by a national strategy and dedicated officers to identify land for potential allotment use, promote a new Dig-for-Victory-inspired campaign for both private and community gardens, and provide resources in support of urban food production. Requirements could be set out for all new housing developments to include community growing space. Public buildings could create community roof gardens and terraces.
The possibilities are vast, Mr Jayawardena, and you are now in a position to effect and influence the changes we need to see. There are of course also great challenges in converting our agricultural methods in order to conserve soil and increase resilience to climate change, but that is another discussion. As well as our ‘official’ farming output, we can also look to supporting individuals and communities to provide more food for themselves. Changes here can begin with substantially increased funding for allotments and other urban growing projects, and culminate in a revolutionary national urban food network that sets an example for the world to follow.
Yours sincerely,
Christopher Crompton
Christopher Crompton