Prince Charles is calling for the issue of climate change to be treated as a much bigger priority in the UK.

Talking to the BBC, the prince unveiled his vision for the future of the environment, farming and food.

He told the broadcaster that climate change was "what really worries me", and he did not want his future grandchildren to ask why he had not acted over the issue.

He also called for consumers to buy more regional produce to help UK farming.

Climate change was a big issue for the future of farming, he said, and it would affect considerations such as which crops should be grown.

"We should be treating, I think, the whole issue of climate change and global warming with a far greater degree of priority than I think is happening now," he said.

The prince said his interest in farming started as a child when he had a "small patch" at Buckingham Palace where he would grow tomatoes.

He said growing things and eating what you produced was an "important part of one's connection with the soil" and tasted "infinitely better".

Small family farms were "vital" for the preservation of the English countryside and rural communities he said and added he believed in "food security".

"I think we would be foolish to expect that we can import everything from somewhere else and imagine that this is going to last forever, and ever and ever," he said.

The prince said consumers could "make a huge difference" by the choices they made when shopping, as well as by pushing supermarkets and other retailers to do things "that perhaps they are not already doing".

However, he said, it was "incredible" that way British food had developed over the last 10 years.

The prince also spoke of his fears for the industrialisation of farming, and said agriculture must be thought of as a "culture" and not an industry.

He said that farmers must learn to work co-operatively.

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