A leading environmentalist has launched a sharp attack on the government's Sustainable Farming and Food Strategy.

Speaking at the 31st annual Campden Lecture, Jonathon Porritt, founder director of Forum for the Future and chair of the Sustainable Development Commission, described the strategy as "no longer fit for purpose" in that it has been completely overtaken by new policy developments elsewhere in government.

Porritt said various developments, especially on climate change and obesity, had undermined the strategy, as had a dramatic worsening of key geopolitical factors such as energy prices, resource shortages and vulnerable supply chains.

As part of the Climate Change Act, the government has just announced the statutory targets against which the UK's carbon budgets will be assessed: at least a 34 per cent cut in greenhouse gases by 2020, rising to 40 per cent if a deal is done in Copenhagen at the end of the year, on the way through to an 80 per cent cut by 2050.

Porritt said: "To make any kind of positive contribution in achieving those targets, the food sector is going to have to undertake a dramatic de-carbonisation of every aspect of its supply chain, from on-farm production all the way through to point of sale.

“Our entire farming enterprise is still geared to high carbon emissions and low energy prices - and that's going to have to be completely reversed."

The same sort of challenge arises from the government's own Obesity Strategy. Food-related ill health costs the NHS an estimated £7.7 billion, nine per cent of its total budget. An estimated 70,000 premature deaths in the UK could be prevented each year if UK diets matched official UK nutritional guidelines - and the UK already has the highest rate of childhood obesity in the EU.

"Despite their recognition of this massive problem, the measures taken so far by the department of health and by DEFRA to address the obesity crisis have been patchy and poorly implemented," said Porritt.

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