Food security must be treated as national security, NFU warns

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has called on UK ministers to treat food security as a national security priority, arguing that global conflicts and climate disruptions are exposing vulnerabilities in supply chains. NFU president Tom Bradshaw criticized the government for relying on ‘warm words’ without implementing policies to strengthen food system resilience. He emphasized that the Middle East conflict and the war in Ukraine are the biggest drivers of global hunger, while disruptions like the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have increased fertilizer, fuel, and energy prices. Bradshaw warned that the UK’s current ‘just-in-time’ supply model leaves the country vulnerable to shocks, urging a shift to a more resilient ‘just-in-case’ approach. British farmers already face extreme weather, pests, diseases, restrictive planning policies, and soaring input costs, with urea prices at £635 per tonne and imported ammonium nitrate at £535 per tonne in April. The NFU stressed that these pressures weaken the UK’s ability to respond to future crises, demanding a long-term plan for farming and food production. The union highlighted the National Preparedness Commission’s findings, which link food security to national resilience, and called for stronger preparedness measures. Bradshaw noted that while officials recognize food security as critical, policies have not yet matched the urgency of the situation. The NFU argued that domestic food production must be central to the UK’s wider preparedness strategy to mitigate global market volatility and climate risks.