Food Security Cannot Be Left to Chance: Why Government Must Act on Spiralling Farm Input Costs by George Brown

This morning I spoke with Calum McDonald, aide to Angela Eagle, to raise two urgent issues now bearing down on British farming: the spiralling cost of essential inputs linked to instability around Iran, and the need for the British Farming Union to have a seat on the Farming and Food Partnership Board.

The message was clear. Farming is being hit by a fresh wave of cost pressures at a time when confidence is already fragile, margins are tight, and many sectors are struggling to see a viable route forward. Red diesel prices have doubled while fertiliser costs have risen by around 36%. These are not small fluctuations. They are major shocks to the cost base of food production, with serious consequences for farm businesses and for the nation’s food supply.

A central concern is whether some of these price rises are being amplified by profiteering further up the chain. I stressed the need for real transparency on fuel pricing, particularly around red diesel. Farmers need to know why retail red diesel prices are not properly reflecting the rebate, where margins are being taken, and who is benefiting from the current volatility. There is a strong case for the Competition and Markets Authority to examine whether profiteering is taking place and whether the market is working fairly.

This cannot be treated as a side issue. Food production is not optional. It is a core strategic national interest. The ability to produce, move and supply food is every bit as essential as the functioning of the NHS or the security of our energy system. If government is reportedly holding COBRA meetings on these wider pressures, then food and farming must be treated as a top-tier priority within that response. DEFRA and the wider government need to be proactive, not reactive.

That means looking beyond short-term headlines and recognising what these rising input costs mean in practice. Every increase in diesel, fertiliser, feed, energy or finance costs eventually feeds through into production decisions, reduced output, delayed investment and lower resilience. In some sectors, it threatens viability altogether.

I also raised the importance of representation. The Farming and Food Partnership Board needs voices around the table that properly reflect primary production. I requested that the British Farming Union be given a seat on the board. Farmers cannot be expected to carry ever greater risks while being excluded from the bodies that shape the direction of food and farming policy.

There is also an urgent need for the board to focus on sector growth plans with far greater seriousness. Arable and dairy, in particular, need immediate attention. These are not marginal industries. They are foundational sectors within British agriculture and national food supply. If government is serious about resilience, growth and food security, then those sectors must be central to any serious strategy.

More broadly, I urged that the board use its mandate to ensure soaring input costs are not simply dumped on farmers as primary producers. That burden must be shared across the whole supply chain. Farmers are too often expected to absorb rising costs while others retain the power to protect margins. That is neither fair nor sustainable. A functioning food system requires risk and pressure to be distributed more evenly, rather than concentrated at the farm gate.

If ministers are serious about protecting the country from instability and supply shocks, they must stop treating farming as an afterthought. British farmers cannot be left to shoulder global disruption alone.