Every so often, we get a surge in interest through government channels promoting the advantages of growing more of our own food.
It’s hardly a mind-blowing idea, and is usually accompanied by a trip down memory lane when it is brought to the notice of the current generation that we were relatively self-sufficient during and after World War II - even though the UK is more so today.
Consumer choice, if there was such a thing, may have been frugal back then compared with today’s cornucopia of food, but in the current political climate, this refocuses our attention on the appeal of maintaining a far healthier diet.
Health club memberships may be booming and walkers and runners exercising on the highways and byways may be a common sight, but in the grander scheme, endeavouring to refocus consumer choice and change the eating habits of a population of some 60 million is a gargantuan undertaking that could take a lifetime.
The message released last week is no different to oft-repeated ideas and concepts. However, the ideology has been identified as a food security assessment and re-packaged between additional layers of justification, supporting everything from the need to improve the environment, reduce air miles and generally help save the planet, rather than merely Dig for Victory.
To be fair, the current appeal, via DEFRA secretary of state Hilary Benn, has gained a degree of credence through ongoing consultation with the horticulture industry. At least this signifies the recognition that horticulture can stand shoulder to shoulder with the meat, dairy and cereal sectors, rather than being undervalued, or simply considered as an afterthought.
But whatever political food policy may emerge - and who is to say whether this will continue to exist next year, if there is a likely change of government - today’s world will always be influenced by commercial realities.
At present, the good news is that UK horticulture - at least as far as production is concerned - is in a confident mood. Berry growers have seen their acreages and market share grow. Top-fruit producers have seen a resurgence because they have switched to modern varieties, with the opening of Mansfield’s multi-million pound grading and storage complex in Kent only last week testimony to its ongoing strength.
Likewise, the salad and vegetable sectors have invested over the years, not on their own UK farms, but ensuring year-round continuity by establishing back-to-back winter operations in southern Europe.
That said, while UK crop quality and yields are already able to compete better than has been seen for many years, it is the multiple trade that broadly determines the source, at a time when shoppers are being increasingly influenced by price.
Thus I wonder, despite the lip service that is paid on the high street, how many shoppers follow the buy-British creed when the pennies are shorter, and look likely to remain so for some time?
It will take actions rather than words to provide the framework for producers to make profits, allowing them to continue to invest. This will be the criteria that will determine what proportion of food on the national plate is actually home grown.
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