Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to assist UK farmers to source animal feed with respect to disruption caused to supply chains by the Russian attack on Ukraine.

We are very much aware of concerns about the impacts the Russian invasion of Ukraine will have on supply chains. However, the UK food chain is very robust and adaptable. We take our food supply and security very seriously and are working closely with the industry to monitor this.

We currently source only relatively small amount of feed ingredients from either Ukraine or Russia. Our assessment is that there is low risk of an actual physical shortage of animal feed in the UK due to the amount of cereal produced domestically and the ability to import from alternative sources. The principal impact on UK farmers will be an increase in the price of animal feed as well as fertiliser and fuel.