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Alternatively, you can email us at foodpolicyunit@defra.gsi.gov.uk, or write to us at:

Food 2030
Food Policy Unit, Defra
7E, 9 Millbank
c/o 17 Smith Square
London SW1P 3JR

3 Responses to “Contact us”

  1. Peter Copestake says:
    11 August, 2009 at 7:27 pm

    (I do not represent anyone except my wife and myself)
    I am very glad to hear this being raised. I heard the Minister on BBC Breakfast yesterday. I particularly noted his comments on growing our own apples. It was not long ago that the Government was encouraging the grubbing up of orchards and Thatcher destroyed the Malling research centre.
    One thing that isn’t mentioned often is that when we import fruit and veg. we are importing water, often from countries that are short of it. I recently asked ASDA why they imported from Israel when we all know that they deliberately keep Palestinians short of water. They replied that they abided by Government policy on where to import from. WE SHOULD NOT BE BUYING FOOD FROM ISRAEL.

  2. David Dennis says:
    5 October, 2009 at 5:43 pm

    Absolutely. there is repeatedly a tendency for packers who sit between growers and supermarkets, to source product from isreal or Egypt even at times of the year, like now, when UK product is available. This evidently is not just because it is cheaper as far as the packers are concerned, but it has the added advantage of filling the market with imported product and creating an over-supply of UK product for the remaining slots.
    This absurd and cynical activity is a gross injustice to our own farmers, and damaging to the environment.
    It is high time for regulation to be put in place to stop this madness that is called globalism,but is just an excuse for putting instant economic gain in front of all else.
    We need to stop the greed and cynicism of large businesses from impoverishing our own farmers.
    What do they care for anything except money? Government will have to act, perhaps with an import tax , to prevent this undercutting of our own supply base.

  3. John Scott says:
    13 October, 2009 at 9:49 pm

    I speak only for myself and for the millions of like minded people in this country, there is no ‘organisation’ as such behind me.

    Have we not learnt from the our reliance of oil supplied from the Middle East? Have we not learnt from what Russia did to those nations not paying enough for its gas? We CANNOT rely on other nations to grow our food for us. What happens when either a) they want more for themselves or b) decide to hold us to ransom for what they will let us have?

    Recvently in Swindon they approved for a LIDL store to be built on allotment land. Imported food replaces locally grown, sustainable horticulture. What the hell are our politicians at all levels thinking?

    We simply MUST stop building on prime agricultural land to appeae the greed of developers and the wants of the ‘aspirational’; once we start building in the countryside it attracts more building and then it is the countryside no more. The purpose is lost and so is the means of producing our own food.

    We need to produce more locally, reduce the carbon footprint and increase the nutrional value of our food by having it travel fewer miles to reach the table. We need to educate the public about seasonal foods and the wealth of opportunity that they bring which will in turn make profit for the small and large food retailers alike. We need to get away from the ‘it can be grown abroad, it can be flown from abroad’ mentality. Why are we bothering to look at reducing the miles people fly and travel when the food that sustains them is being encouraged to be grown further afield?

    We don’t need import bans or taxes, we need a common sense revolution where food is concerned. Produce it locally and consume it locally. We should be looking to open up land for allotments and market gardens once again and enforce rigidly planning laws to prevent the destruction of the very land that is required to sustain the people who live on it.

    We must KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid! We cannot continue to build on agricultural land and then expect the rest of the world to feed us at the prices we expect to pay; do we really expect the rest of the world to remain undeveloped and under nourished for the sake of our own stomachs? We need to wake up quickly before we become a nation with no industry to create wealth and no agriculture to feed its citizens. We are already being told about fuel poverty, what will happen when there is no food to fuel the people?