The re-emergence of UK National Food Security on the policy agenda: Sustainability challenges and the politics of food supply: Sustainability challenges and the politics of food supply

The rises in commodity and food prices through the period 2006-2008 stimulated a renewed political concern and debate around the security of world food supply. The price peak also served to amplify an emerging domestic political debate in the UK questioning the government’s assessment of the resilience of the food supply at the national level. The UK government’s policy approach to the security of the national food supply is framed by its belief in the effective workings of an increasingly liberalized global trading environment. The increased sourcing of food from overseas is seen to allow for greater flexibility of supply for different products (including agricultural inputs), evidenced by the efficiency of modern integrated commercial food supply chains, and a reduced exposure to the risk of disruptions in domestic food production from situations such as harvest failure and livestock disease.