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Food

A variety of vegetables

Food and Drink Exports Action Plan

On 27 January 2012, an Action Plan was published – developed by Government and industry – to maximise the opportunity for growth through overseas trade and remove barriers. This recognises that exporting is a key route to strong and sustainable growth in the farming, food and drink sector.

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Food lies at the centre of a very complex web that extends to every aspect of our existence, from the state of our countryside to the length of our lives.

With a growing population, climate change and the pressure we are putting on land, we will have to produce more food sustainably. We also need to provide the right information for people to make more informed choices about what they eat. Diet will have a huge impact not only on our health and our economy, but most importantly on sustainability.

To this end we will support and develop British farming and encourage sustainable food production, helping to enhance the competitiveness and resilience of the whole food chain, including farms and the fish industry, to ensure a secure, environmentally sustainable and healthy supply of food with improved standards of animal welfare.

We will need to work in partnership with a range of sectors from the food and farming industries, consumers, civil society and EU and international organisations.

Supported by Defra, Eat Seasonably is all about inspiring and enabling people to eat more seasonal fruit and vegetables and helping them to grow their own. Read more or visit the Eat Seasonably pages on Directgov.

International context

As members of the EU, the UK food sector benefits from being part of the single market. It also means much of our food policy is influenced by EU legislation. As the biggest trading block in the world, the EU is a powerful figure on the international stage.

EU engagement therefore continues to be a priority, particularly in emphasising the importance of integrated food policy that meets the needs of Europe’s citizens, and enables a competitive and sustainable food system that supports global food security.

The Department for International Development (DFID) and Defra work closely on influencing international action, and jointly sponsored a major international project led by Sir John Beddington, the UK’s Chief Scientist, to address the question of how a global population of 9 billion can all be fed healthily and sustainably. The Foresight project on Global Food and Farming Futures reported its findings in January 2011.

Challenges to the food system

  • The sector is heavily dependent on oil, energy and water, all increasingly scarce, and telecoms and transport where reliability and diversity of supply are essential.
  • Agriculture contributes to climate change: direct emissions from agriculture accounted for about 8% of UK greenhouse gas emissions in 2008.
  • Diet-related ill health costs the NHS an estimated £7 billion a year, with further costs to the wider economy through inability to work.
  • While consumers are increasingly interested in healthy eating, on current trends 40% of the UK population would be obese by 2025, and 60% by 2050.
  • 70,000 premature deaths a year could be avoided if, nationally, our diets matched nutritional guidelines on salt, fat, sugar and fruit and vegetable consumption.
  • Waste is a food chain issue – 8.3 million tonnes of food and drink is wasted by consumer each year, 5.3 million tonnes of this is avoidable.
  • With the global population estimated to increase from 6 billion to 9 billion by 2050, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates global food production will have to increase by 70% compared to 2005-7 levels. Increasing availability of, and access to, existing food supplies,  including by minimising waste along the food chain, will also be important. Already, over 1 billion people globally face hunger and undernourishment.

Economic significance of the food sector

  • The agri-food sector contributed £84.6 billion to the economy in 2008, 7.1% of the total and including the UK’s largest manufacturing sector.
  • 3 million people are employed in food and farming, of which 2.4 million are in the retail and food service sectors.
  • Consumer expenditure on food and drink was £177 billion in 2009
  • The UK exported £13.2 billion worth of food and drink in 2008
  • The UK imported £31.6 billion worth of food and drink in 2008

The 2010 Food Statistics Pocketbook is available to download.

Key documents

Page last modified: 27 January 2012