Interesting report linking various aspects of today's world in the UK. This can be found on
https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/Reaction from Boris Johnson in Parliament “I’m not, I must say, attracted to extra taxes on hardworking people,” the PM said.
Is this reaction kneejerk or does the report makes sense?
But see the responses to the report on the website above including:
“Analytically tight, empirically thorough, the Dimbleby Report is not only a masterly study of UK’s food problem, but it also constructs a framework wide enough to be deployed for studying the food problems societies face everywhere. The Report’s recommendations are detailed, convincing, and would be entirely implementable if we cared about ourselves and the world around us.”
Sir Partha Dasgupta
Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Cambridge and author of The Economics of Biodiversity
Extract from Executive Summary
“Our eating habits are destroying the environment. And this in turn threatens our food security. The next big shock to our food supply will almost certainly be caused by climate change, in the form of extreme weather events and catastrophic harvest failures. Agriculture alone produces 10% of UK greenhouse gas emissions, despite constituting less than 1% of our GDP.
Cheap, highly processed food is also taking a toll on our bodies. Eighty per cent of processed food sold in the UK is unhealthy. There is a sound commercial reason for this: unhealthy food is more popular. The human appetite evolved in a world where calories were hard to come by. We are predisposed to pounce on any food that is high in fat and sugar. And once we start eating this kind of food, we are programmed to keep going: our hormones take longer to send out satiety signals (the feeling of fullness) than they do with lower-calorie foods.
Because there is a bigger market for unhealthy food, companies invest more into developing and marketing it. This in turn expands the market further still. The bigger the market, the greater the economies of scale. Highly processed foods – high in salt, refined carbohydrates, sugar and fats, and low in fibre – are on average three times cheaper per calorie than healthier foods. This is one reason why bad diet is a particularly acute problem among the least affluent.
Appendix 1 – Recommendation 1
Introduce a sugar and salt reformulation tax. Use some of the revenue to help get fresh fruit and vegetables to low income families.
Appendix 2 – Recommendation 2
Introduce mandatory reporting for large food companies.
Appendix 3 – Recommendation 3
Launch a new “Eat and Learn” initiative for schools.
Appendix 4 – Recommendation 4
Extend eligibility for free school meals.
Appendix 5 – Recommendation 5
Fund the Holiday Activities and Food programme for the next three years.
Appendix 6 – Recommendation 6
Expand the Healthy Start scheme.
Appendix 7 – Recommendation 7
Trial a “Community Eatwell” programme, supporting those on low incomes to improve their diets.
Appendix 8 – Recommendation 8
Guarantee the budget for agricultural payments until at least 2029 to help farmers transition to more sustainable land use.
Appendix 9 – Recommendation 9
Create a rural land use framework based on the Three Compartment Model.
Appendix 10 – Recommendation 10
Define minimum standards for trade, and a mechanism for protecting them.
Appendix 11 – Recommendation 11
Invest £1 billion in innovation to create a better food system.
Appendix 12 – Recommendation 12
Create a National Food System Data programme.
Appendix 13 – Recommendation 13
Strengthen government procurement rules to ensure that taxpayer money is spent on healthy and sustainable food.
Appendix 14 – Recommendation 14
Set clear targets and bring in legislation for long-term change.
