Crisis predictions open door for food processors
11 August 2009
The latest news that Britain could be facing a food shortage in the not-too-distant future presents British food and drink manufacturers with a challenge - but it also provides many potentially lucrative opportunities
As Hilary Benn, the environment minister, suggests a 'radical rethink' of how the UK produces and consumes its food, and warns that climate change and population growth could damage the UK's food security, the message must be sinking in for Britain's food and drink manufacturers.
Here is an opportunity to transform their approach in a way that has not been possible since the aftermath of the Second World War, when Britons survived on food rationing. Nobody is suggesting we're at that point - not yet, anyway. But the warning signs are there and manufacturers must know they have much opportunity to capitalise on the challenge.
Benn has called for a more sensible approach to food safety as part of a wider drive to cut waste and make Britain less dependent on imported food. And he will set out plans to make Britain more self-sufficient in food, encouraging consumers to eat seasonally-grown British vegetables instead of out-of-season imports. Households will also be urged to grow their own vegetables at home.
Benn added that farmers would decide what to grow but it was important to investigate new techniques in order to discover the "facts" about them.
It is the bit about 'investigating new techniques' that should make food manufacturers sit up and listen. For this is the opening many have been waiting for - the nudge from Government that will surely, in the long-term, influence the consumer. Food manufacturers in Britain have much to complain about, yet their innovation as an industry cannot be faulted.
This innovation will become ever more important as Government pushes for a new approach to deal with the problems. These include having to 'feed another two and a half to three billion mouths over the next 40-50 years', as Benn says.
A cynic would say that if consumers, overnight, decided not to waste anymore food and drink (and Government estimates 6.7 million tonnes of food worth £10 billion is thrown away every year), the amount of food bought would decrease dramatically. That would negatively affect retailers, then suppliers and finally manufacturers.
But that should not be a cause for too much concern for manufacturers. Another of the predictions which has rocked the food industry over the past few days is that food prices must rise, possibly by a significant amount, for they are not sustainable at their current levels. This makes common sense but the concern is by just how much they will rise.
Retailers, suppliers and food manufacturers have an easy option here. If consumers do take Government's precautions to heart (and all indications are that sooner or later they will), they will also be prepared to pay more for the less food they are buying. Thus the balancce between money spent and food consumed will (or should) be maintained, and the supply chain will be largely immune from shocks.
That is the theory. Whether it works out that way is anybody's guess. But right now, it seems it is the only option if we are to avoid catastrophe over the next few decades.
Benn insists that genetic modification is the way forward, a view echoed by many food producers. "If GM can make a contribution then we have a choice as a society and as a world about whether to make use of that technology, and an increasing number of countries are growing GM products," Benn said.
"And the truth is we will need to think about the way in which we produce our food, the way in which we use water and fertiliser, we will need science, we will need more people to come into farming because it has a bright future. "Because one thing is certain - with a growing population, the world is going to need a lot of farmers and a lot of agricultural production in the years ahead."
Benn takes an interesting stand on the retailer's role in the situation. He criticised them for offering only standardised fruit and vegetables, rejecting those that are oddly shaped or unusually coloured. "You go into the supermarkets and you see the same apples and the same size. Celebrating variety - that's something we should be keen to do," he said.
Time will tell how these views and predictions will affect consumer patterns, and therefore food manufacturers. But, if some of the assessments are to be believed, time is running out. Britain's manufacturers may yet come to see that as an opportunity rather than a threat.
Contact Details and Archive...
Related Articles...
Most Viewed Articles...