The Government must introduce better policies to support farmers, or risk more empty shelves in the supermarkets, the NFU has warned.
The egg shortages of the past few weeks could be just the start, the union said, due to unfair terms for producers throughout the supply chain.
The warning came as Defra held a roundtable meeting with representatives from the egg supply chain, including NFU poultry board chair James Motterhead.
NFU President Minette Batters urged the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to honour the commitments he made to support British farmers through the energy crisis and to set a target for the nation’s food security, with a statutory duty to report on domestic food levels.
“Shoppers up and down the country have for decades had a guaranteed supply of high-quality affordable food produced to some of the highest animal welfare, environmental and food safety standards in the world. But British food is under threat,” said Batters. “Only last week, the former Director General of MI5, The Baroness Manningham-Buller, said that food is a part of our national infrastructure and that government needs to be consistent in planning for the UK’s food supply. I couldn’t agree more, particularly at a time when global volatility is threatening the stability of the world’s food production, food security and energy security.
“We have already seen the egg supply chain crippled under the pressure caused by these issues and I fear the country is sleepwalking into further food supply crises. We need government and the wider supply chain to act now.”
Batters said the NFU wanted an urgent investigation by Defra into whether an “exceptional market conditions” declaration should be made under the Agriculture Act 2020, given the severe disruption which egg producers and UK consumers are experiencing.