The Food Ethics Council is a charity that provides independent advice on the ethics of food and farming.
He writes:
Its aim is to ‘create a food system that is fair and healthy for people, animals and the environment’. The vision is of a world where everyone eats healthily and sustainably, enjoying food that is produced and traded fairly and humanely. It has strong values of respect for people, animals and the planet. And from what I experienced, it is an organisation that really wants to make a difference.
What struck me was the range of attendees that I met at the meeting. There were representatives from Defra, pressure groups, supermarkets and people from across the industry. And, of course, there were farmers like me.
The meeting started with a group exercise where we were asked to spell out our ‘ideal’ vision of farming in the future. The discussion that followed showed that pretty much everyone wanted the same thing - sustainable production, healthy consumption, fair trade and good animal welfare.
However, based on the ongoing dialogue it’s clear that while we share a vision, we’re not quite there yet. And much of that came down to semantics. For instance, the people in the room had different views of what is ‘sustainable’, ‘healthy’, ‘fair’ and ‘good’ – so it’s clear that work needs to be done so that we have a common understanding. And, of course, as with all these things, we need to be able to measure our achievements so that we can mark our progress.
However, progress is being made.
I was particularly interested to learn about the Food Sustainability Index, which is a piece of work that has ranked 34 countries according to their food system sustainability. It measures countries according to food loss and waste, the sustainability of its agriculture and how hungry or obese its population.
In essence, countries that rank well typically demonstrate strong and effectively implemented government policy on food waste, environmental conservation and nutrition education.
Indeed, there is much scope for continued optimism towards these goals. During my farming career, I have seen regulation – such as the outlawing of pig stalls - that has significantly improved animal welfare. I have also seen first-hand improvements in how we manage the environment such as the introduction of manure spreading controls.
I have also seen a much closer relationship between ourselves and our consumers. Rather than selling milk via the Milk Marketing Board to “the market” we now sell milk direct to consumers via a supermarket; Sainsbury’s. And since this supermarket is highly interested in retailing milk in a way that is ‘sustainable’, ‘healthy’, ‘fair’, and ‘good’, they are very interested in the way that we manage our businesses and look after our animals.
While we still need to do more, people need to understand just how far we have already come to meet our ‘ideal’ vision of farming in the future. To see this progress continue emerging, I believe there are two key areas where we need to focus our resources.
First, we need to encourage a closer connection between farmer and consumer. As farmers, we should be proud to let consumers see what we do and open minded and adaptable enough to make changes that the market wants. At the same time, consumers need to be educated about food production, understand how it’s done and reconnect with the countryside. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that France – which is known around the world for its culinary expertise and love of food – topped the Food Sustainability Index.
Second, we need to reward farmers to develop their businesses in this way. To be adaptable, we need to be profitable and see a return for making the changes. As in one blog post on the Food Ethics Council website – Money is like Manure – it makes things grow. Show us what you want, pay us to do it and it will happen.