DEFRA’s focus on food policy measures this week is certainly a positive step in the right direction, embracing a wealth of different ideas and production methods as crucial to ensuring food security in the UK.

It is good to see the government finally recognising the requirement for a joined-up policy that can operate across the disparate official departments that at some point or another have dealings with the food industry.

However, it is imperative that the online discussions and reports now due to take place actually yield tangible results. The government has said all the right things - recognising the need for greater self-sufficiency as well as a robust international trade system, along with the necessity for a variety of different production methods. But as the Food Ethics Council said in responding to Monday’s announcement, the government must also “recognise that the roots of food insecurity stretch way outside the food sector”. Citing income inequality and climate change as two non-food issues that have a significant impact on the food sector, the council questioned if DEFRA has the necessary clout to implement such far-reaching changes.

Hilary Benn appears to be a reputable politician who understands the needs of this country’s agricultural and horticultural industries. Let’s hope he can join up the dots on his “radical rethink” proposal.