Dairy farms vital to food security

Jim Paice, the Shadow Minister for Agriculture, has warned that our food security is being undermined by a huge decrease in the number of dairy farms.

Official statistics show that there are nearly 50% fewer dairy farms in England today than in 2000 – and some areas, including the East and the North East, have suffered a 60% decline.

Speaking at the Dairy UK Conference, Jim stressed that the “dramatic decline” in UK self-sufficiency was of great concern, and called for serious action to shore up domestic production:

"We need to look at land use and ask whether we should restore the presumption against development on high grade land. We need to stop talking about anaerobic digestion and do something by introducing a system of decentralised power generation and feed in tariffs which will give farmers the security to invest."