The report, published by Defra, is an analysis of how global biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse could affect UK national security.
It warns that the UK cannot currently produce enough food to feed its population, based on current diets and prices, pointing to the UK's reliance on imports for both food and fertiliser.
Full self-sufficiency would require 'substantial price increases' for consumers, with greater investment needed in the agri-food sectors so that it is capable of innovating in sustainable food production.
Biodiversity loss, alongside climate change, is amongst the biggest medium to long term threat to domestic food production, the report says, through depleted soils, loss of pollinators, drought and flood conditions.
“With an increasingly volatile geopolitical and climactic situation, we cannot rely on imports to sustain us.”
NFU Deputy President David Exwood
However, some existing and emerging technologies could provide potential solutions, the report's writers suggest, citing examples such as plant pre-breeding and regenerative agriculture.
Vital resources
Responding to the report, NFU Deputy President David Exwood said: “Food production and environmental delivery have always gone hand in hand – we cannot have a resilient food system without healthy soils, thriving pollinators and access to clean water.
“These are vital resources and, as custodians of the land, farmers and growers have a responsibility and ambition to protect them. We now need the investment to enable it.
“Thousands of farmers are looking to the renewed Sustainable Farming Incentive to enable this work. After a stop-start approach to environmental schemes so far, farmers desperately need some certainty for the scheme this year and for the years ahead.
“With an increasingly volatile geopolitical and climactic situation, we cannot rely on imports to sustain us. Investing in our national food security has to be a priority, and that starts with investing in the land.”
