The NFU will use its conference today to say that a resilient food system is key to tackling food inflation, bolstering national security and driving growth.

In his opening address at the NFU’s annual conference, NFU President Tom Bradshaw will highlight that a resilient food system isn’t optional in a time of geopolitical uncertainty, it is a cornerstone to national security and should be backed up by a long-term plan for farming and food production.

Yet the NFU’s farmer confidence survey results show that short-term and mid-term farmer confidence remains devastatingly low. With 64% of farmers and growers saying their profits are either declining or that their business may not survive. Mr. Bradshaw will emphasise that profitability is the key to growth, resilience and curbing food inflation.

Addressing more than a thousand NFU members, politicians and farming’s key stakeholders at the conference, NFU President Tom Bradshaw will say: “Investment in food production is critical to the nation’s future. Everyone - young or old, rural, or urban - needs a resilient food system. Resilience means the ability to anticipate shocks, withstand the impact and recover stronger than before.

“Recently the Defra Secretary of State said that farm profitability was vital to enable UK agriculture to grow. I couldn’t agree more. Profit is not a dirty word. Profitability is the first step towards true sustainability. That is the key to growth, resilience, and curbing food inflation.

“When government is joined up, it makes a real difference. Just look at planning. Ambitious proposals have been brought forward to make it easier for farmers to secure approvals for new agricultural buildings. This is exactly the sort of intent we need to see in other areas such as delivering on its manifesto pledge for half of all food purchased across the public sector to be locally sourced.

“Take energy. Hundreds of millions of pounds of inflation are coming to a retail shelf near you, all because of changes to energy standing charges this spring.

“Government must recognise the energy intensity of farming and growing businesses; by giving the same support it is to other industries like cement and steel. Look at water, our ability to feed a growing population relies on access to a secure supply of water. We must recognise our river network as part of our critical national infrastructure and invest in its long-term management and maintenance.

“And the Sustainable Farming Incentive. Farmers are the original environmentalists, but they cannot have the goalposts constantly moving if they are to keep delivering for the environment and be profitable, resilient businesses.

“If we get this right, Britain’s farmers will invest in the on-farm infrastructure needed to deliver a resilient food system for 70 million consumers. That investment will boost food production and drive domestic growth at a local, rural level. By growing more here it keeps the processing capacity here, keeps the technology here, keeps the research and development here.

“Even more critical to that, the events of the past few years have shown us we cannot keep relying on others to produce our food. It’s not just us saying this, the National Preparedness Commission highlighted the ‘danger of the UK repeating past mistakes, assuming others will always feed us’. Yet over recent years, the production of staples such as wheat, beef, poultry meat and vegetables have all fallen. The years of UK food production contracting must end now.

“Building farming’s resilience is crucial, because if we don’t, our ability to produce food here, and therefore our food security, our national security, and our economic growth, will be under threat.

“How we get there is a clear government ambition for homegrown food production, just as we have for other sectors. We need a food strategy that sets clear ambitions, sector by sector and delivery of the Food and Farming Board, set out in Baroness Batters profitability review.

“Britain should, and can be, one of the best places on earth to produce food. For the sake of our economy, for our planet and for our national security, we must not take that advantage for granted.”