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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of increasing funding for agroecology on levels of food insecurity.

Our food system is dependent on maintaining a healthy and sustainable natural environment, providing us with the inputs we need to continue to grow, rear and produce food domestically. This is complemented by international trade to provide our high level of food security.

Our farming reforms aim to support a highly productive food producing sector, meeting our commitment to broadly maintain current levels of food production, alongside environmental improvements that benefit us all. Our schemes will ensure our long-term food security by investing in the foundations of food production: healthy soil, water, and biodiverse ecosystems.

UK food supply comprises domestic production excluding exports, plus imported food, and the production to supply ratio has remained stable over the last two decades. Production to supply ratios are regularly kept under review as part of our wider ongoing work on food security. The UK Food Security Review is a review of the evidence landscape for all aspects of food security, and the 2024 edition will take account of any new data sources produced since 2021.

We are currently undertaking research to examine future land use and agricultural strategies to balance environmental and food production outcomes. This work is helping to inform the development of the Land Use Framework.