This gives rise to the very real concern that, even as energy prices come down in the years ahead, increasing climate impacts are likely to keep food prices high, a risk highlighted by the Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey in a recent speech to the National Farmers Union.
Commenting on the report, COP26 President Sir Alok Sharma said: “The negative impacts of a changing world climate are here and now and are putting real upwards pressure on the cost of living. From staples like wheat and rice, to fruits like bananas and oranges, our food supplies are global and it is therefore imperative that the UK continues to show leadership in its efforts to tackle the climate crisis, so that we bring other nations with us and help cut the risks to our food security.”
Heatwaves across the Mediterranean, India and South America in 2023 have all had a major impact on food production and global food prices this year, with food price inflation hitting nearly 20% in April and May. Store cupboard items like sugar, rice and tomatoes have all been hit by extreme weather, with olive oil increasing in price by 50% following two years of drought and heatwaves in Spain and other key exporters in southern Europe.
Previous ECIU analysis revealed the vulnerability of UK food imports to heatwaves and other extreme weather in the Mediterranean, a region that provides a quarter of British food imports.
Plans
Tom Lancaster, land analyst at ECIU said, “Climate change is playing havoc with global food production, and this is inevitably feeding through to higher prices at the tills. Across 2022 and 2023, climate change alone added the equivalent of six weekly shops to the average household food bill.
“Added to that the dependence of our current farming system on volatile oil, gas and fertiliser prices, and the last two years has seen a perfect storm of extreme weather, high gas prices and global instability leading to unprecedented food price inflation. The good news is that steps to make farming more sustainable can not only cut emissions but also make our food production more resilient to the extremes of flooding and drought.
“Government plans in England to support greener farming with more hedgerows, improved soil health and tree planting schemes are therefore vital to our future food security.”
Farmers
In the UK, drought in 2022 hit key staples such as potatoes and onions, and has been followed by an unusually wet harvest in 2023, and then the hottest September on record. More recently, Storm Babet has left hundreds of acres of prime farmland under water, delivering the third wettest three day period for England and Wales since records began in 1891 and hitting supplies of potatoes and other vegetables.
The UK government prediction in December 2021 that climate change posed the biggest threat to domestic food production has been vindicated, with British farmers contending with increasingly extreme weather and volatile input prices.
Defra plans to introduce more support for sustainable farming through their new environmental land management schemes could help reduce exposure to these climate impacts, by increasing support for natural measures that can build soil fertility, such as green manures and cover crops. These measures can also help build resilience to drought, by increasing the capacity of soil to retain moisture.
This Author
Ruby Harbour is a freelance journalist. This article is based on a press release from The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, a non-profit organisation supporting informed debate on energy and climate change issues in the UK.
