As we fast approach this year’s Wales Food and Farming Conference, it serves as a timely reminder to reflect on how much has changed (or remained the same) in the Wales food and farming sector since the last event. With the 2023 Conference at Llysfasi Campus closing with a session delivered by Professor Tim Lang on food resilience, this seems like an appropriate place to pick up from.
Over the course of the last year, the Welsh food system has continued to struggle against a multitude of challenges, both domestic and international. Price increases for fertiliser, oil and gas have contributed to a rise in food prices and a wider cost-of-living crisis, with a knock-on effect on food poverty in Wales. Geopolitical events, such as the ongoing war in Ukraine and the widening conflict in the Middle East, has resulted in market volatility and uncertainty around global supply chains. Closer to home, the continued prevalence of ultra-processed foods is resulting in widespread issues of obesity and malnutrition, causing unnecessary burdens on the health system. However, as things stand, Wales does not have the production profile to meet its own population’s needs. It has been well documented that Wales only currently grows 2% of the fruit and veg it consumes and eats only 5% of the meat it produces. To put this into context, a 2020 report for Tyfu Cymru has estimated that in order to produce ‘5 a day’ for the entire population of Wales, there needs to be a 29-fold increase in the amount of land growing fruit and veg, from 931 hectares to 26,991 hectares.
All of the above issues exist at a time when the food and farming sector in Wales has yet to fully shake off the impacts of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic; two of the three phenomena that Public Health Wales has categorised as the ‘triple challenge’. The third challenge of climate change presents a particular cause for concern, with altered weather patterns resulting in heatwaves, droughts, floods and storms, increasing vulnerability to pests and diseases – all of which pose significant problems for food production and distribution in the wider food system.
This presents a daunting prospect surrounding the future of Welsh food. Despite this, there is a way forward. Recent studies we have carried out at Miller Research on behalf of clients such as the Welsh Government, Carmarthenshire County Council and Ambition North Wales point to a number of levers for change. For instance, buoyed by the recent legislative changes around procurement through the Procurement Act 2023, there is now greater scope for the public sector to have a larger role in procuring locally sourced food, placing a greater emphasis on social value and environmental impact, as opposed to purely scoring on cost. Coordinated growing schemes, such as Our Food 1200 and diversifying the use of County Farms both offer ways to increase domestic horticultural capacity, thus reducing reliance on global supply chains and increasing the resilience of the Welsh food system. Providing financial support to processing and manufacturing businesses could also act as a mechanism to alleviate logistical supply chain challenges.
It appears clear that the massive issues facing the sector will not to be solved overnight with ‘quick wins’, but rather a concerted effort on systemic, long-term change. This is something we hope to explore in detail in our panel session at the Conference this year, with a specific focus on themes such as innovative agricultural practices, agro-ecological growing and wider consumer habits. Whilst we don’t expect to have all the answers, it would serve as a timely reminder of actions we can and should take forward, so that when we arrive at next year’s Conference, we can look to the future of Welsh food with growing optimism – we hope to see you there!
Tom Bajjada
Miller Research (UK) Ltd.
Bremenda Isaf, the County Farm found in the link above, will host one of the field visits on 22nd November.
CGFFfC - WRFFC 