Burnham Urged To Put Food At Heart Of National Reset

Incoming prime minister Andy Burnham has been urged to give food and farming the same strategic priority as energy, water and other essential national infrastructure.

Writing in The Grocer, Kath Dalmeny, chief executive of food and farming alliance Sustain, warned that the food system sits at the point where cost-of-living pressures, climate change and global instability increasingly collide.

Dalmeny said volatile weather was already affecting harvests and contributing to rising food prices, while farmers faced higher costs, squeezed margins and insufficient investment in infrastructure that could help them adapt to changing conditions.

She highlighted reservoirs as one example of the long-term infrastructure required to help farms manage increasingly unpredictable weather patterns.

The UK’s reliance upon imported fresh produce was also identified as a significant vulnerability. Dalmeny said Britain imports around 80 per cent of its fresh fruit and 50 per cent of its vegetables, leaving consumers and businesses exposed to disruption across long, complex supply chains passing through countries facing climate and geopolitical pressures.

Although domestically produced food may be more insulated from some external shocks, British production continues to depend heavily upon imported inputs.

Sustain also raised concerns about the way value is distributed along domestic food supply chains. Dalmeny argued that late cancellations, unfair commercial practices and lengthy chains of intermediaries could leave farmers receiving only a small fraction of the final retail price.

Dalmeny said stronger regulation and supply chains designed around fairer returns for producers were necessary to support resilient regional food systems.

She noted that Burnham had signalled a willingness to intervene in sectors including energy and water but had not yet demonstrated the same appetite for reforming food supply chains.

The government’s recently published Farming Roadmap 2050 sets out a 25-year vision for the sector. However, Sustain believes significant gaps remain in connecting sustainable farming with healthy diets and food affordability, including how producers will be supported to grow more fruit, vegetables and pulses.

The organisation is also calling for the government’s developing food strategy to bring together farming, public health, affordability, nature and climate policy.

Dalmeny said the incoming government should support British farmers, lead the transition towards more sustainable production and help ensure producers receive fair prices.

“If Burnham truly wants a reset that reaches everybody in Britain, food cannot be the afterthought,” she concluded.