Farm to Fork: how food costs the earth
By Tim Thorlby
6 mins
In this blog, Tim explores how our approach to food has become damaging to both us and our planet. The blog explores the key environmental issues within our food and drink industry, suggests a biblical perspective on this and highlights some practical responses.
1 – Food, glorious food!
Food is essential for life and at the heart of community, culture and society. Whether it’s a quick breakfast on the go, a big family Sunday lunch or a takeaway curry, it is an integral part of our daily lives. It can be a great source of joy. It can also be a cause of much anxiety: the lack of food is a pressing concern for some, as we have seen over the last decade with the rise of foodbanks in the UK and campaigns for free school meals over the holidays. The healthiness of our diets is also a key issue for many. And for those of with allergies, accurate food labelling is an important protection.
The production, delivery and sale of food is also a significant part of our economy. Many people work in the food and drink industry – from farms and shops to delivery companies, cafes and restaurants – accounting for almost one in seven jobs in the UK[1]. And most of these jobs are in the private sector.
Food is big business.
There is much to say about food, but in this blog, I want to focus on some of the environmental aspects of how we produce and consume it in the UK. I will start with a brief overview and then focus in to explore some of the issues.
2 – Food in the UK: An overview
Our nation’s food story is currently not a particularly happy one. It isn’t working well in many respects:
Environmentally damaging - Our methods of intensive agriculture are destroying biodiversity and have become a significant contributor to climate change. We also waste a staggering amount of food each year.
Socially unequal - Highly processed food is often unhealthy but it remains significantly cheaper than healthier alternatives, disproportionately impacting the health of those on low incomes. Poorer children in the UK are, on average, actually shorter (as well as heavier) than their wealthier counterparts because of their less healthy diet. Some households also can’t afford to eat at all and rely on foodbanks or go hungry.
Declining health - Our unhealthy diets – salt, sugar, fat, lack of fibre – are a significant contributor to the nation’s health problems and are fuelling an unprecedented rise in obesity, requiring a growing amount of NHS resources each year to address. Those on lower incomes are more likely to be affected.
Farms going bust – Many smaller farms are going bust, and have been for years, and even the larger ones are often struggling. Agriculture isn’t working well as farmers are not getting viable prices for their products, even when there is robust demand – due to the way that our major retailers operate. A recent report[2] showed that a typical 800g loaf of sliced bread selling for £1.14 would only deliver 9p back to the farmer who had grown the cereal, with no profit. This is clearly not sustainable.
Our nation’s approach to food – how we grow it, make it, sell it, eat it – is highly problematic and really needs to change.
As we’ve already noted, the production and sale of food is primarily a private sector endeavour. Unfortunately, some of those businesses have a strong vested interest in resisting change. With 77% of all food and drink marketing expenditure in the UK for products high in fat, salt or sugar, you can perhaps see the problem.
So, any attempt to address these issues will involve changing the way we regulate and intervene in our food industry in some way.
The international trade deals that the Government negotiates with other countries also have a bearing, as there is little point in placing new requirements on UK businesses if this is undermined by cheaper imports produced to lower standards.
In other words, change will require a joined-up approach.
What’s happening? Ask Henry
A good overview of what’s wrong with our approach to food and how we might fix it can be found in a recent national review.
The UK Government asked Henry Dimbleby to undertake an independent review of how the nation’s food is grown, produced and sold (‘from field to fork’). His commission published a comprehensive report in 2021, which I am going to draw on here. It’s the most recent, thorough and independent review of the issues that I’ve found.
Henry is perhaps most famous for founding the Leon chain of cafes and if you’ve never tasted their Lemon Ginger Crunches then you really should (a personal favourite of mine, thanks Henry!)
The independent commission produced a detailed ‘National Food Strategy’[3], setting out an ambitious and holistic approach. It was well received by many:
“The National Food Strategy report deserves to be widely read and deeply considered by everyone with responsibilities for any part of our food system. Its compelling narrative focuses attention on the urgent challenges facing the food system and how we must work together, across government and industry, to create a system which is good for the health of people and the planet.”
Professor Susan Jebb, Chair of the Food Standards Agency
The National Food Strategy set out four strategic objectives, as a way forward:
Escape the junk food cycle to protect the NHS
Reduce diet-related inequality
Make the best use of our land
Create a long-term shift in our food culture
The report is well worth a read (and is very readable).
In 2022, the Government responded with its own rather slimmer, watered-down version – the ‘Government Food Strategy’. After much discussion and frustration, Mr Dimbleby eventually resigned as the ‘food tsar’ in March 2023, citing the Government’s “shocking and depressing” inaction on his proposals. Ooof, don’t hold back Henry, tell us what you really think!
3 – Nature is invisible
In this blog, I want to focus on some of the environmental issues around food.
As the National Food Strategy explains, the environmental stakes are high now, and part of the reason we are in this mess is that our economy sees ‘nature’ as something that is free and therefore any damage does not need to be paid for:
“The manufacture, production and distribution of food has become an ecological disaster. Globally (and domestically), it is the single largest contributor to the destruction of habitats, biodiversity and major abiotic systems (water, nitrogen and carbon). In systems terms, the reason for this is simple. There is no balancing feedback loop to stop us destroying nature. By almost all of the measurements that we use to value human activity, nature is invisible.”
(p66, The National Food Strategy: The Plan)
Clearly, we need a different approach and one that leaves rather less to the vagaries of the market in order to ensure that environmental objectives are also delivered. It will be difficult because we need to do a bunch of difficult things all at the same time:
Produce less carbon
Increase bio-diversity
Protect food standards (i.e. good animal welfare, not too many chemicals)
Continue producing food at affordable prices
Make healthy food more affordable
Maintain (and improve) the financial viability of farming
The overall approach put forward by the National Food Strategy is to ensure that our nation’s land is pro-actively managed to ensure a better balance between three different kinds of use. It would require a new land management framework to be agreed and put into action through regulation and subsidy (replacing the current system), effectively reorienting the current market in a different direction:
More semi-natural land – this is countryside where the promotion of bio-diversity and nature is the priority
More low-yield farmland – this is agroecological farming (which includes organic farming and related approaches) where farming ‘shares’ the land with nature, producing healthy, natural produce but at lower yields than a more industrial approach would deliver
Less high-yield farmland – this is more intensive agriculture, with rather less room for nature, but much higher yields of produce, to make sure we actually produce enough food for everyone
There are many important and legitimate discussions to have about all of this – there is no consensus right now - but the report sets out a pragmatic approach that accepts a diversity of models. It would be a good start.
In order to make this jigsaw puzzle work and in order to deliver on climate change objectives, we would also need to produce and eat something like 30% less meat. This is because meat production is an energy intensive and land intensive activity and so producing less meat would lower the carbon footprint and free up land for other purposes. Cutting meat production by 30% in the UK would free up a whopping 20% of all UK farmland to enable more ecological approaches to farming.
So, for example, for someone who usually eats meat every day, that means skipping meat two days per week.
Delivering these kinds of changes across the UK is a significant, complex challenge and will take decades, but it is the scale of change required.
4 – A word on waste
One thing caught my eye in Henry’s report.
One quarter of all of the UK’s harvests are ‘never eaten’.
The food is wasted and thrown away. This wasted food accounts for nearly 7% of our nation’s carbon footprint all by itself.
Whilst farmers are responsible for some of this, the vast majority of waste occurs after it leaves the farm gate. And households (that’s you and me) account for 70% of this waste.
Henry’s instructive carrot
(p107 National Food Strategy)
If we reduced our own wastage of food we would not only save money for ourselves, but also lower the UK’s carbon footprint and (in the long run) free up some farmland for more ecological purposes.
Whilst much of the strategy for ‘fixing’ our food industry may seem too big to engage with, this is something we can all do and it’s in our own self-interest too.
5 – A biblical perspective on nature
Many books have been written providing a Christian perspective on environmental issues; it is not a new subject. There is much to say, and I hope to delve into more of it in future blogs, but here I would like to just to provide a brief overview of five key ideas that are often highlighted when seeking a biblical perspective on the environment and humanity’s relationship with it.
The physical universe belongs to God – The Bible begins with a sentence which stakes a firm claim to God’s pre-eminence over, and ownership of, the universe; “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). This is confirmed later on when God reminds us that “the land is mine and you are…my tenants” (Leviticus 25: 23). Our planet is therefore, in theological terms, not ours to do whatever we like with, as we don’t own it.
The Creation is a good thing to be enjoyed – It is interesting that at the end of the creation story, God doesn’t strut around and brag about his triumphs as some deities seem fond of doing, he stops to survey what he has done, announces that it is good and then has a day off to enjoy it. “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good…. on the seventh day he rested from all his work.” (Genesis 1:31 – 2:2) Part of the point here is that creation has value and significance, so is not be discounted or ignored; we cannot just consider ‘spiritual’ matters as though the physical is irrelevant.
Humanity’s role is to take care of this planet – God created humans and put them in the Garden of Eden “to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:16). There are three things to note here. Firstly, humanity is fully part of the created order, formed “from the dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7)). As we are not separate from it, we cannot think of the planet as just as platform on which to stand (or exploit) but a system we are a part of. Secondly, it is clear that humanity is more than just another animal, “made in the image of God” (Genesis 1:26) and given a special responsibility not given to any other species. Thirdly and finally, the instruction from God is to “take care” of the planet. One verse in particular has been taken out of context and misused over the years (“let them rule over” – Genesis 1:26) as permission to exploit the earth’s resources as we see fit. However, this requires a wilful misreading of the verse and ignorance of most of the rest of the Bible, as it is quite clear that our role is to be undertaken with responsibility and an eye on the future (sustainability).
Our planet has limits to be respected – To confirm the last point about sustainability, by way of example it is worth noting that the Old Testament Law includes instructions to the farmers of Israel to leave all agricultural land fallow every seven years and every fifty years – “then the land will yield its fruit” (Leviticus 25:19). The idea that we should just take what we want, when we want, without a care for tomorrow is absent from Biblical thinking. The planet has its limits too and these are to be respected. There is also a mutual relationship at work here – if we look after our planet, our planet will look after us.
Eating food together is at the heart of community – The Bible famously begins in a garden (the ‘Garden of Eden’) and ends in a city (the ‘New Jerusalem’). We have become largely urban societies. Making this work well for everyone and the planet requires a system that can produce enough food for everyone, and ensure it is distributed fairly too, and in a sustainable fashion. It is no coincidence that biblical blessings often use ideas of a ’bountiful harvest’ as a vision of what to look forward to. It is a recognition of the centrality of food to a happy, healthy and secure society. It is also does not seem coincidental that when Jesus wanted to leave a ritual for his followers, he asked them to eat and drink together – ‘the breaking of bread’.
There is much more that could be said, but hopefully this at least paints a broad picture of the direction of Christian thinking on the environment.
There is clearly a call on Christians to take creation care seriously and to see this as a core part of our approach to life; it is not an optional extra just for those who are interested in such things.
6 – Things you can do
This is clearly a huge subject and we have only touched the surface in this blog; I intend to return to some of this in the future. In the meantime, here are some practical things you can do, as a consumer, if the blog has piqued your interest:
Eat less meat? – For avid carnivores, having at least a couple of meat-free days each week would be a simple, healthy and helpful contribution to changing our nation’s food habits to become more sustainable.
Tips on wasting less food – The charity WRAP has a website full of tips and practical advice on how to avoid food waste of all kinds when we’re at home
Learn more – For the structural changes required to our food markets, there are numerous charities that research and campaign for more ecological approaches to food production, including Sustain, Sustainable Food Trust and the Soil Association and many more.
This blog was written by Tim Thorlby. If you found it interesting, please subscribe for free alerts for future blogs.
Notes
[1] The National Food Strategy: The Plan (2021) | Access here: https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/
[2] Jackson, Lisa (2022) Unpicking Food Prices, Sustain | This short, excellent and fascinating report analyses five different food products and shows where the money goes in the supply chain – retailer, wholesaler, processing, farmer, etc. Access here: https://www.sustainweb.org/reports/dec22-unpicking-food-prices/
[3] The National Food Strategy: The Plan (2021) | Access here: https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/