UK has to grow its own food to help the world

A committee of MPs released a report this week that stated Britain will need to start growing more of its own food supply including vegetables, fruit, and cereal if it wants to be able to feed the extra 2.7 billion people that are anticipated to populate the globe by 2050.

The report details that there will be about 9 billion people in the world in just forty years which will mean food production has to double in the face of oil price rises, climate change, and any new animal and plant diseases.

Head of the Food and rural affairs committee Michael Jack said that hunger will destroy political stability which was clearly evident by the global rise in food prices last year.

The MPs stated that the UK government has not focused on food supply issues enough and that its continual tendency to ignore the situation will have dire results in the future.

In 2008 food prices across Britain up by 13.9% and across the world due to the increasing use of food to produce biofuels, growing populations, and as a consequence of climate change.

However, while calling for action the MPs warned that Britain should not aim for self-sufficiency when it comes to food as a simple disease or agricultural problem could wipe out the entire food supply. It may also start a precedent of ‘every country for itself’ which could cause future bad relations between countries.

Instead the report outlined that Britain should continue to outsource its food supply by current standards and work on increasing food production within the country.

In 2006, 90% of the UK’s food supply came from other countries.

The committee also commented on a problem with the Environment Department’s announcement that people should eat fish twice a week since this is not sustainable in regards to the marine population.