The Commons Environmentthe Food and Rural Affairs Committee announced the launch of a food sector equity program Supply chain investigation – which will examine the resilience and vulnerabilities of the UK food sector.

The investigation, which is due to start in the new year, follows the publication of the governmentit’s annual food safety report last week. It revealed that 10% of UK households would be “food insecure” in 2023, the highest proportion since the measure was introduced in 2020.

The report also confirms that the UK produced around 60% of the food consumed in 2023 (62% for all food and 75% for food that can be grown in the UK), representing a marginal increase from to 2021.

However, he warned that the UK’s agricultural water availability was at increased risk of extremes weather report events. While many businesses have demonstrated resilience and recovery in response to price shocks caused by events such as the war in Ukraineinvestment levels have not returned to pre-2022 levels, he adds.

Average total quarterly investment by food and beverage manufacturing businesses grew 5.7% in 2023 compared to 2022, but this figure was 21% lower than 2021 levels, the report found.

Given these pressures on the sector and wider societal challenges, Efra said its investigation would examine a range of key issues affecting the sector, including levels of support for domestic food production, access to adequate food healthy and affordable, labor shortage in the supply chain and food price And household food insecurity.

“It is easy to take for granted that we have an abundant and available food supply in the UK,” said Efra President Alistair Carmichael MP.

“Producing high-quality food is a national strength for which we can all be grateful. Despite this, our food supplies – both local and imported – are vulnerable to external factors and are not always as secure as one might imagine, as events of recent years have proven.

Efra is also concerned about the growing number of households across the country who “struggle to access high-quality, nutritious food at affordable prices,” Carmichael added.

“Supermarkets warned that the tax increases announced in the budget would put pressure on prices. We also continue to receive warnings about the impact of labor shortages in the supply chain.

The investigation comes as the Labor government recently pledged to take further action towards supply chain fairness, with new regulations on contractual relations – similar to this year reform of the dairy contract – waited through a multitude of extra food and agriculture categories next year.

The Efra commission said its inquiry would examine how the government “can ensure greater fairness and transparency in supply chains and promote food security at both national and household levels”.

He added that the investigation would refer to evidence brought together by the predecessor of the Efra Committee on topics ranging from the effectiveness of Grocery Products Code Adjudicator to implement the Code of Good Practice in Food Procurement and the potential benefits of expanding the scope of the GSCOP.

Other areas of consideration already addressed by the previous committee include the potential benefits and risks of lowering the turnover threshold for which retailers are covered, the adequacy of reviews of contracting practices in the agricultural sectors and the effectiveness of the introduction of fair dealing powers under the Agriculture Act. .

Efra would also examine possibilities for collaboration between the new agricultural supply chain arbiter and the food code arbiter, he added.

The committee also welcomes new or updated submissions on the above, by January 24, 2025.

The investigation follows a tumultuous few months for food producers following budget changes to inheritance tax which led to a series of events in the fall.

THE UNF said today farmers would participate in a “National Unity Day” on January 25 as part of its continued opposition to the changes, dubbed the “Family agricultural tax”.

“Farmers have not accepted this destructive policy and we will not give up,” said NFU president Tom Bradshaw. “There are too many risks: our families, our future, our heritage and the undermining of the very sector that produces a safe and secure supply of British food.”