Fixing the food system
If we’re going to fight climate change and bring nature back to life, we must fix the food system by providing sustainable, healthy and affordable food for everyone.
We all have a part to play – government, businesses, and as consumers.
The UK Net Zero Strategy set out unambitious emissions reductions plans for the English agriculture, land use and food sectors, with little clarity on the policies to meet these weak targets. This is echoed in equivalent strategies in Scotland and Wales. Governments around the UK must prioritise plans to reduce the environmental and climate footprint of our food and farming.
This means lots of changes, from farm to fork. We need our leaders to step up to the plate and fix the food system. Find out what we’re asking the Welsh and Scottish governments to do.
Here are WWF’s top three areas for UK government action in 2022.
1. Help our farmers be nature heroes
1. Help our farmers be nature heroes
Whoever leads the next government in Westminster must deliver on the Conservative manifesto commitment that in return for funding, farmers must farm in a way that protects and enhances our natural environment.
The UK Government is introducing a ground-breaking new scheme that could help farmers to bring back lost butterflies, birds and bees to the English countryside. They would be paid to do things that are good for nature and climate, such as creating new habitats for wildlife, reducing flood risk and locking up carbon in our soils, while producing healthy food for us all.
This will help fix our broken food system, restore our countryside and protect future generations from the impacts of climate change and nature loss. Many farmers are already doing this, or want to take action to make their businesses greener, but they need certainty and support to make these changes. We urgently need the UK Government to step up with a farm payment system which delivers for climate and nature.
“A new poll, commissioned by WWF, shows that 78% of British adults agree that the UK government should provide more support, including payments, for farmers that invest in farming practices that tackle climate change or for farmers that invest in farming practices that benefit wildlife and nature.”
2. Put food on the menu at COP27
2. Put food on the menu at COP27
Food system reform is a big missing piece in the climate puzzle. This year at COP27 - the global climate change summit - the UK must do two things:
First, show global leadership by putting food system reform at the heart of its national plan to slash harmful emissions.
Second, support calls for COP27 to include food system reform as a key part of any new global climate agreement
3. Don’t trade our planet
3. Don’t trade our planet
New trade deals, to be finalised this year, risk undercutting UK farmers by importing food that is damaging to our planet and our health. Did you know that Australia - with whom the UK signed a trade deal this year - uses 71 highly hazardous substances in its agriculture which are banned in the UK? This is why WWF is working alongside other charities, major UK supermarkets and food businesses to call on the UK Government to introduce new core standards to underpin all trade, to make sure all food sold in the UK is not produced at the expense of the environment.