Sustain welcomes Reynold's comments on food security, but clear action is now needed

In a speech last Thursday on food security, resilience and standards, Emma Reynolds, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, made an important statement about the relationship between sustainable farming and food security. Sustain hopes it will set the tone for practical decisions ahead around the Food Strategy and the Farming roadmap

Reynolds was clear when she said:

"The climate crisis means we cannot secure our food systems simply by producing more. We must produce food differently.

Sustainable farming is not a constraint on food security – it is the foundation of it. Soil health, water management, biodiversity, reduced emissions – these are not luxuries. They are the conditions on which productive agriculture depends.

Farmers who protect and restore their land are not just producing food. They are safeguarding the capacity to produce food for generations to come."

It is encouraging to see the Secretary of State say this so explicitly. The principle isn't new to this Government’s thinking, but this clear articulation from the top matters.

Whilst we hope it will set the tone for the practical decisions ahead, especially those concerning the Food Strategy and the farming roadmap, the real opportunity now is turning these words into action.

A concerning contradiction

In light of these words from the DEFRA Secretary, the Government's current proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) are all the more puzzling. The draft NPPF appears to contradict the Secretary's vision by creating a presumption in favour of all agricultural development, without distinguishing between farming systems that strengthen food security and those that undermine it.

We believe the new proposals are clearly designed to make it easier for intensive livestock operations to expand, even in already-polluted catchments. They focus on increasing food production without clarifying what type of production genuinely contributes to long-term food resilience.

This matters because intensive livestock farming, which has grown in the UK by 20% since 2016, is import-dependent, polluting, and undermines the environmental foundations the Secretary of State rightly identified as essential. It reduces farm jobs through consolidation and diverts land away from producing the fruit, vegetables and legumes we need more of for both sustainability, and the population’s health.

If you live in a megafarm hotspot, you can ask your MP to oppose these changes to planning rules via our e-action.

We need a different food and farming system 

In December, before the proposed changes to planning were announced, the Food Strategy Alliances, which is a new grouping of five existing alliances, wrote to the Secretary of State with three core requirementswrote to the Secretary of State with three core requirements which her department must address: 

1. Create a joined-up healthy food and sustainable farming plan – backed by legislation. This requires ensuring policy coherence and joined-up government across all food-related strategies.  

2. Put nature and climate friendly farming and growing at the core of the Food Strategy. This involves strengthening the sustainable farming budget, reversing funding cuts to DEFRA, and providing a clear roadmap for the Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs) to enable a transition towards farming systems that embed demonstrably higher animal welfare. We also call for investment in the UK’s food system infrastructure to support local, values-led food systems and shorter supply chains.  

3. Make healthy and sustainable diets the norm for all in the UK. Key actions here include reforming public sector food to establish legally-binding minimum standards for healthy, sustainable, and locally sourced meals across the entire public sector, including nurseries and schools. 

Taken together, these core asks would lead to a food and farming system that can nourish the British population, support farmers and growers, help restore our natural environment. As the Secretary of State made clear, our food security cannot come from producing more alone – we have to produce differently to ensure a healthy food supply well into the future. 

Making it happen

The UK faces genuine food security challenges: we import 64% of our fruit and vegetables, largely from regions vulnerable to climate shock; food prices have risen sharply in recent years, whilst farmers and growers continue to struggle as shareholders in global food manufacturers continue to reap huge returns. At the same time, both climate and geopolitical shocks are becoming ever more frequent. The pace of this growing instability means we do not just have to worry about food production for future generations, but for this generation too.

Sustain welcome the Secretary of State's clear commitment to sustainable food security as the foundation for policy. We are keen to work constructively with the Government to ensure planning policy, agricultural support, and public health policies do all genuinely reflect the principle she’s laid out so clearly and correctly.