UK – The Policy Commission published its The Future of Farming and Food report this week, looking at the food and farming industries in the England.

The report calls for wide ranging changes in the UK agriculture and food industries covering local produce, food labelling, animal diseases, government funding and communication between different parts of the food chain. If implemented, such changes would have a significant impact on the dairy industry.

Speaking to ConnectingDairy, a National Farmers’ Union (NFU) dairy spokeswoman welcomed the report. “We feel that consolidation and collaboration in the dairy industry should be pushed forward,” she said. She added that the NFU was encouraged endorsement of the Red Tractor label. The Soil Association and National Trust also welcomed the report.

The report finds that England’s farming and food industry is currently “unsustainable, in every sense of that term”. It claims that food prices are too high and that the industry has become detached from the rest of the economy. The report makes many recommendations, but concludes: “It is up to the food and farming industry to spot and seize its opportunities.” The Future of Farming and Food predicts that local foods will become more prevalent in the UK in the next ten years. It claims that both supermarkets and convenience retailers support this.

But the study also claims that local foods are difficult to produce at the moment. It calls for producers to process products themselves and for Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) to back the creation of smaller, more localised processing facilities. It says that RDAs should also help to overcome the distribution problems of local foods. These, it claims, would be convenient for smaller, local initiatives. It also calls for processing and marketing grants to be increased to help collaborative enterprises establish themselves.

The report supports the Food Standards Agency’s plans to improve labelling in the food industry. It calls for country of origin labelling to be compulsory in all sectors. It says that food should not qualify as being from a particular country if it has only been processed there. It also supports the Red Tractor label, a quality assurance scheme run by the NFU and the government.

The Future of Farming and Food says that fallout from “abysmal” animal health problems in the UK over the last ten years has “crippled” the farming and food industries. It recommends that the UK government and industry introduce a comprehensive animal health strategy. According to the report, such a strategy should include full electronic traceability and that cattle movement needs to be better recorded.

The report also calls upon the Treasury to lead a group on animal disease insurance. It says that the government should be prepared to help farmers with the cost of premiums should they prove too high.

The study recommends that a food chain centre be established to bring together all parties in the food chain, including consumers. It recommends that the centre should identify how efficiency savings can be achieved, especially in the fresh produce and red meat sectors. It also suggests that the centre should prepare best practise reports.

The study recommends that farming subsidies be cut to force the industry to become profitable in the long term. It urges the UK government to press for reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP) “as soon as possible”. It recommends that some of this money be redirected into rural development, a process known as ‘modulation’.

The commission was asked to produce the report by the government during the country’s foot and mouth outbreak. It was asked to advise the government on how to make the UK food and farming sector sustainable, competitive and diverse.