Food 'Strategy'

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If I was involved in ensuring the continuing food security of the UK I would be getting a little nervous right now.


We have various geopolitical issues which are increasing the price of food, and leading to supply chain issues which will also lead to competition between countries, and the UK is not in the same bargaining position as it used to be. This will also lead to spikes in prices, which may cause knock-on problems for companies requiring ingredients for processed food. The price of alternatives will also rise as a result.

Food analysts reckon food prices will rise rapidly this summer.

Already, chicken which has been a cheap meat for decades is seeing big price rises.

And that's before we throw in the act of self harm that was our withdrawal from the European Union with all that entailed and continues to entail... oven-ready is another food related metaphor here (which turned out to be rather over egging the pudding...)

I've written about food quite a bit over the years on here as it's a topic I teach at different key stages and have also written resources for the GA in the past, for the TDA.

In my teaching I've always tried to refer to the latest research where it's helpful and practical.

One particular source of recent resarch was the Dimbleby report.

I have a  pile of food related books on my shelves that I draw on as well, although this is a fast moving area and the pandemic has disrupted a lot of the previous thinking.

Food Security is also something that I wrote about for the OCR GCSE textbooks that I co-authored.

An Independent Review and recommendations for a National Food Strategy were published in 2021. This is called the Dimbleby Report.

“The pandemic has turned the divide between the rich and the poor into a gaping chasm. A terrible legacy of this time will be the exponential growth of food banks and hand-outs. Sadly the fact is that the less well off you are, the more likely you are to be prey to unhealthy food. There is a nutritional gap between rich and poor in this country, and it's a slowly unfolding tragedy. Dimbleby not only recognises this – he has a plan to do something about it. Measures like extending free school meals to more children and trialling prescriptions of fruit and veg could kickstart the change we need to see. I trust the Government will act on his advice."
Dame Louise Casey
Baroness Casey of Blackstock


Spoiler alert: they didn't accept much of what he had to say.

They also made a right mess of the Healthy Start scheme it seems.

Time for Geography have been at work to add to their video portfolio.

Two new videos have just been launched on the topic of food, which is very timely. They are of characteristically high quality as well.

One is on Changing Food Production and Demand in the UK

Challenges of Global Food Supply Chains

Here's the DEFRA angle on the new strategy:

Read more here. 

The political cartoonists are of course on this and I have a growing collection of images.

Other experts have called the Government's new 'strategy' preposterous.

(I like how in the story above, vegan food is going to be fed to 'school children and prisoners'.)

The Birmingham Food Council is not too impressed either.

Our food choices can have an impact on species, even leading to their disappearance.

Some elements of the strategy have been shelved:

Plenty more to come on this.... 

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