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Food production needs to hard-wired back into ag policy, Efra Committee Chair says

Is there enough emphasis placed on food production's role in supporting not only nature restoration, but flood management, climate change mitigation and food security?

Chris Brayford
clock • 3 min read
Efra Committee Chair Alistair Carmichael said: "One of the big difficulties we have with agricultural policy in this country, especially in England but not exclusively in England, we have sent food production and nature restoration, and flood management and climate change mitigation and all the rest of it, as being set up against each other, when they are absolutely not. If we are going to see long-term security for this industry and for food security in this country, then getting food production hard-wired back into agricultural policy is going to be absolutely critical."
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Efra Committee Chair Alistair Carmichael said: "One of the big difficulties we have with agricultural policy in this country, especially in England but not exclusively in England, we have sent food production and nature restoration, and flood management and climate change mitigation and all the rest of it, as being set up against each other, when they are absolutely not. If we are going to see long-term security for this industry and for food security in this country, then getting food production hard-wired back into agricultural policy is going to be absolutely critical."

The foundation of agricultural policy must be built on a solid foundation of producing food for the nation, with a farming MP having argued that it has been seen as distinctive from the UK's environmental...

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