A report launched at the 2023 Oxford Farming Conference (OFC) today (Wednesday, January 4) has called for fairness throughout the UK’s food supply chain.
The report, Supply Chain Synergies – What is the appropriate role of supply chains in achieving responsible production at farm level?, aimed to highlight the need for fairness, net-zero cost-sharing and the recalibration of value-sharing in the UK’s food sector.
The report author Lesley Mitchell is the Forum for Future’s associate director for sustainable nutrition and she conducted the research in partnership with OFC, Savills and The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
Mitchell said UK food and farming supply chains are central to a thriving economy and society, and that there is an “urgent need to tackle environmental restoration and climate change”.
“This report shines a light on the stark reality currently facing farmers, and the huge untapped potential for both the food sector and policymakers to enable an ecologically safe and socially just future for UK food.”
OFC chair, Emily Norton, said it goes a long way to highlight the good practice that supply chains are already developing to reshape the UK’s food system in the face of energy and food cost rises.
“It further challenges policymakers and markets to work together in an ambitious cycle of improvement as we seek to farm a more optimistic and healthier future, in which farmers are central to the solutions we need,” she said.
Executive director of advocacy and campaigns at WWF, Kate Norgrove, added: “This report lays out in stark terms that we must address the carbon emissions and biodiversity loss that stem from the food sector’s supply chains.
“But farmers cannot fix our food system on their own and we urgently need coordinated action from government, suppliers, supermarkets and consumers to reduce the environmental footprint of what we eat.
“To bring our world back to life, we can no longer tinker around the edges: We all need to act now.”
