The UK imports over 60% of its food. Not a very clever strategy for any country that looks to be self-reliant and take back control of its borders. Government figures reveal that the UK relies on imports for roughly 40% of its food according to 2022 data.
Since Brexit we have been importing food from out with Europe, where animal welfare and safety are not to high standards. In desperation we are currently importing foods like meat and dairy products both processed and unprocessed from countries that do not have robust and strong regulatory institutions like our European counterparts and the UK. It’s mindboggling to see the direction of travel the country has taken since Brexit and the pandemic. I remember politicians and bureaucrats making talking points during the pandemic that a drastic change is needed to plan a new path forward for the country’s food security while also taking in to account the impact of climate change on our environment and food production. Once the politicians got the green light that the pandemic was over and citizens could go back to work, everything was instantly forgotten, the pain, suffering, desperation of millions were being sacrificed again for politicians and corporation to take advantage of the changed landscape.
Many locals across the country were growing their own food as they realised the folly of depending on imports to live a healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately, many of these enthusiastic new growers abandoned their motivation to go back and join the rat race of our modern economic system. Food growers, especially the young, should be inspired and encouraged to take on farming, not chemical farming i.e., growing food the natural way and without the use of expensive pesticides and fertilisers that often trap farmers into debt. These chemicals also poison our land, water and our ecosystem in the long term by causing health issues to not only the growers but consumers. Our education system is not fit for purpose and has not evolved over time. Many of you know that the current educational system was setup during the industrial revolution as companies needed cheap labour, hence the setting up of schools, followed by creche services to also include women. We were enticed into an economic lifestyle that ultimately benefitted the rich, while the poor were left to pick up the pieces of their now ruined social, family and financial health due to government resources ploughed into making the rich richer!
Can the council along-with the Scottish and UK governments work together with locals across the country rural or urban to provide subsidised land for growing? At the same time, can our educational regulators and institutions work together with professionals in the fields of food and growing to help support our young people take-up food as a subject in all its forms and introduce these topics in school curriculums?
Published in The Peeblesshire News on Friday 23rd August 2024