HC 243 - Food Security

HC 243 - Food Security PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0215073312
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
The UK is currently 68% self-sufficient in foods which can be produced at home, but this key indicator has declined steadily over the past 20 years, from 87%. The report says the biggest long-term challenge to food production systems is the impact of extreme weather events resulting from climate change. The Committee supports the idea of 'sustainable intensification' - producing more food with fewer resources - and calls on Defra to stem decline in UK self-sufficiency and deliver more resilience in the UK food system. It notes that for key cereal crops, for example wheat, yield levels have not increased for over 15 years. Other recommendations include: supermarkets to shorten supply chains to reduce threats of disruption; UK farmers to extend seasonal production of fresh fruit and vegetables in coordination with the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board, and local and central Government; Government to reduce dependence on imported soybean for animal feed, as increased demand for protein from emerging economies threatens current supply lines; and Government to produce a detailed emissions reduction plan for the UK agricultural sector. The Committee welcomes the Government's new £160 million AgriTech Strategy to translate technological ideas into farm practice but warns that current funding levels are insufficient. The Government must also lead a public debate to counter food safety fears among consumers about GM foods and ensure a more evidence-based approach to EU licensing of GM crops. New farmers are needed in the sector, to ensure that farming has a future in the UK.

HC 243 - Food Security

HC 243 - Food Security PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0215073312
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
The UK is currently 68% self-sufficient in foods which can be produced at home, but this key indicator has declined steadily over the past 20 years, from 87%. The report says the biggest long-term challenge to food production systems is the impact of extreme weather events resulting from climate change. The Committee supports the idea of 'sustainable intensification' - producing more food with fewer resources - and calls on Defra to stem decline in UK self-sufficiency and deliver more resilience in the UK food system. It notes that for key cereal crops, for example wheat, yield levels have not increased for over 15 years. Other recommendations include: supermarkets to shorten supply chains to reduce threats of disruption; UK farmers to extend seasonal production of fresh fruit and vegetables in coordination with the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board, and local and central Government; Government to reduce dependence on imported soybean for animal feed, as increased demand for protein from emerging economies threatens current supply lines; and Government to produce a detailed emissions reduction plan for the UK agricultural sector. The Committee welcomes the Government's new £160 million AgriTech Strategy to translate technological ideas into farm practice but warns that current funding levels are insufficient. The Government must also lead a public debate to counter food safety fears among consumers about GM foods and ensure a more evidence-based approach to EU licensing of GM crops. New farmers are needed in the sector, to ensure that farming has a future in the UK.

HC 703 - Food Security: Demand, Consumtion and Waste

HC 703 - Food Security: Demand, Consumtion and Waste PDF Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0215081072
Category : Food supply
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description
The myriad choices millions of people make every day over what food to buy and from where to buy it shape the nation's food production and supply systems. It is essential to harness these decisions to support the public policy goal of enabling all to access healthy and affordable food. Both supply and demand issues must be managed if a growing world population is to be fed at a time when environmental impacts, including those of climate change, are constraining food production. In this report the Committee make recommendations on managing consumer demand, such as by encouraging the purchase of sustainably sourced products or the most nutritious food in order to help to deliver environmental and health goals.

HC 942 - Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee - Work of the Committee: 2010-15

HC 942 - Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee - Work of the Committee: 2010-15 PDF Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0215084462
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 41

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Book Description


HC 834 - Rural Broadband And Digital-Only Services

HC 834 - Rural Broadband And Digital-Only Services PDF Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0215081307
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
Access to broadband can be an unexpectedly emotive and complex subject. Written evidence the Committee has received explains how poor broadband can lead to a range of problems: from reduced access to online learning resources for students, to families being unable to use everyday online services such as BBC iPlayer and rural businesses being powerless to function in an increasingly online marketplace. Overall, poor broadband can produce a feeling of a two-tier society with the ’have and have nots'. This feeling is most apparent in rural communities which by their geographical nature are often the hardest for the infrastructure to reach.The move to an online-only Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) system for payments this year provides a clear example of how online-only services often need to be accessed by those located in geographical areas which are difficult for current broadband infrastructure to reach or for good coverage and speed to be provided. CAP payments offer a prime example of the wider Government policy to make services ’digital-by-default'. This policy has clear ramifications when broadband access is limited or non-existent.

HC 241 - Waste Management in England

HC 241 - Waste Management in England PDF Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0215078322
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
The Government must act to increase recycling rates across England by 2020. It also needs to be ensured that only genuinely residual waste is sent to energy-from-waste plants and to do more to encourage the use of heat outputs from such facilities to improve the overall energy efficiency of this waste management method. Defra 'stepped back' from waste management at a time when we need both a more ambitious approach to waste management and stronger Government leadership to drive up static recycling rates in England and make better use of energy recovery options such as local heating for homes. Ministers must now show that waste policy remains an important priority. On a household level there is too much confusion about what can or can't be recycled - and very little confidence in the process. Communication must improve and be tailored to local circumstances by local authorities, but Defra should provide support at a national level - particularly in relation to common issues and problems. The Committee calls for clear guidance from Defra on how much waste treatment capacity is needed in England to gain an optimal balance between the export of refuse-derived fuel and local treatment. MPs support the use of anaerobic digestion for processing waste, but not for use with purpose-grown crops. More work is also needed to address the issues surrounding separate food waste collections. MPs also call on the Government take action to curb the frequent occurrence of fires at waste management sites

HC 817 - Dairy Prices

HC 817 - Dairy Prices PDF Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0215081064
Category : Dairy products
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
Worldwide pressure on milk prices has resulted from a combination of rising supply and falling demand, partly because of reduced demand from China and a Russian trade ban with the EU. Rapid and wide fluctuations in milk price bring pressure to bear on the UK dairy industry, and farmers have been leaving it in significant numbers in recent years. While there is no single solution to the problems created by these rapid changes in milk prices, it is incumbent on the Government, and Defra in particular, to promote UK dairy produce domestically and in growing export markets. Action to encourage the spread of Producer Organisations, a review of the EU intervention price for milk and clearer regulation on the labelling of dairy products could all assist a struggling industry. The voluntary code of best practice in the dairy industry, introduced after similar price difficulties in 2012, has been adopted by about 85 per cent of dairy producers and welcomed in improving matters as far as it goes. Closer attention is required, however, to the sharpness and frequency of price changes in the dairy market, which affect investment and financial planning. The Groceries Code Adjudicator's role, concerning the relationship between direct suppliers and major retailers, is too restricted to be of assistance to the vast majority of dairy producers, as they are indirect suppliers.

HC 802 - Defra Performance in 2014-15

HC 802 - Defra Performance in 2014-15 PDF Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0215081420
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
The Department's total expenditure for 2013-14 was £6.252 billion, taking into account both its activities funded directly by Parliament and grants made following the receipt of money from the European Union, predominantly to fund agricultural subsidies and rural development schemes. The Government budget allocated to and spent by Defra is known as the Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) and it is set at Spending Reviews. The Department has underspent its central Government funding allocation each year since the 2010 Spending Review. In 2013-4, Defra spent £2,433 million of its DEL to meet its strategic objectives which resulted in a £61 million (2 per cent) underspend compared to its budget. The Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2013-4 state that the £50 million underspend against resource DEL was due to the following factors: (a) £30 million was not spent as the UK Government challenged EU disallowance penalties on 2010 and 2011 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) scheme expenditure; and; (b) £20 million was intentional underspend following approval from HM Treasury to carry the funding into 2014-15 to spend on flood prevention

Global food security

Global food security PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: International Development Committee
Publisher: Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215058751
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 172

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Book Description
The International Development Committee calls for concerted action to curb food wastage in the UK and for expansion of DFID's bilateral nutrition programmes with a particular focus on pregnancy and early years, as part of wider efforts to improve global food security. There is scope for the Government to launch a national consumer campaign to reduce domestic food waste, also setting national targets to curb food waste within the UK food production and retail sectors. Agriculturally-produced biofuels are having a major detrimental impact on global food security by driving higher and more volatile food prices. EU targets requiring 10 per cent of transport energy to be drawn from renewable sources by 2020 are likely to cause dramatic food price increases, and the Government should revise its domestic Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation to specifically exclude agriculturally-produced biofuels. Looking at the impact of rising world population, the Committee praises DFID's significant efforts to meet the considerable unmet need for contraception in many developing nations and urges the UK government to maintain a keen focus on women's reproductive rights within its development assistance programmes. MPs also flag the longer term barriers to development posed by systematic undernutrition. The Committee expresses concern that large corporations are buying up large areas of land in many developing countries previously farmed by smallholders. UK-domiciled corporations should be required to be transparent about land deals. Lastly, MPs focus on the key role that smallholder farmers will play in feeding a growing global population and in reducing rural poverty.

Enhancing Resilience of Dryland Agriculture Under Changing Climate

Enhancing Resilience of Dryland Agriculture Under Changing Climate PDF Author: Anandkumar Naorem
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9811991596
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 714

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Book Description
This contributed volume describes management practices based on interdisciplinary and convergence science approaches from different disciplines of agricultural science to enhance the resilience of dryland agriculture. The main focus of this book is to address the current issues and trends along with future prospects and challenges in adopting salient agricultural management practices in drylands globally under a climate-change scenario. Climate change and global warming have profound repercussions on increasing frequency, severity, and duration of droughts and/or floods, which may have implications for future productivity of dryland agriculture, e.g., more water shortages or abundances and high or low runoff rates, diminished crop yields, and reduced water productivity. In past few years, many technological advancements and management strategies have been evolved to tackle the climate-induced risks of dryland agriculture considering interdisciplinary and convergence approaches that integrate knowledge from multi-disciplines. This book is an attempt to bridge the gap in literature by unraveling controversies and characteristics of dryland ecosystems under the changing climate and dealing with detailed procedures of applying the advanced practices adapted to climate change for management of dryland agriculture. This edited book is of interest to ecologists, economists, environmentalists, geologists, horticulturalists, hydrologists, soil scientists, social scientists, natural resource conservationists and policy makers dealing with dryland agriculture. This book offers a broad understanding of dryland agriculture and assists the reader to identify both the current as well as the probable future state of dryland agriculture in a global context.

The Role of Functional Food Security in Global Health

The Role of Functional Food Security in Global Health PDF Author: Ronald Ross Watson
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0128131497
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 792

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Book Description
The Role of Functional Food Security in Global Health presents a collective approach to food security through the use of functional foods as a strategy to prevent under nutrition and related diseases. This approach reflects the views of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the World Heart Federation and the American Heart Association who advise Mediterranean, Paleolithic, plant food based diets, and European vegetarian diets for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. In addition, the book also emphasizes the inclusion of spices, herbs and millets, as well as animal foods. This book will be a great resource to the food industry as it presents the most efficient ways to use technology to manufacture slowly absorbed, micronutrient rich functional foods by blending foods that are rich in healthy nutrients. Provides greater knowledge on functional food security Highlights the necessary changes to the western diet that are needed to achieve food security Explains the utility and necessity of functional food security in the prevention of noncommunicable diseases Presents policy changes in food production for farmers and the larger food industry Offers suggestions on what can be done to enhance functional food production while simultaneously decreasing production costs