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All Business Arable Livestock Poultry Machinery Community COMMUNITY HUB Will’s World Young farmers Arable Farmer Focus Livestock Farmer Focus What’s in your shed What’s in your livestock shed Flindt on Friday HOT TOPICS Britain’s Fittest Farmer Farmlife Framed photo gallery NAAC contractor price guide 2026-27 Curious by Nature Level the Field Farm Safety Stars KNOW HOW ARABLE Wheat Barley Oilseed rape Potatoes Sugar beet Maize Pulses Other crops LIVESTOCK Dairy Beef Sheep Pigs Other livestock Broilers Layers Other poultry Grassland management Slurry and manure management FARM MANAGEMENT Agricultural Transition Business management Finance Compliance Payments, schemes and grants Diversification Farm energy Career and personal development Health and safety Succession planning Business Clinic MACHINERY AND WORKSHOP Tractors Telehandlers Combines ATVs and UTVs 4x4s Drills Sprayers Reviews and tests Technology Workshop and maintenance Road legal MARKETS ARABLE PRICES Grains, oilseeds and pulse prices Arable chemical input prices LIVESTOCK PRICES Auction prices Cattle deadweight Sheep deadweight Pigs deadweight Feed prices DAIRY PRICES Milk farmgate and dairy league Milk market indicators Milk deliveries Dairy production holdings GB milk hygiene OTHER All prices and trends Markets at a glance (pdf) Horticulture prices Fuel prices Contractor prices calculator Fertiliser prices Land markets DISCOVER PRODUCTS FW Today App Farmers Weekly Podcast Transition Podcast Farmers Weekly Learning Centre Discover products and services Reviews and tests Newsletters SERVICES Machinery search Property search Job search Contractor services Contractor prices calculator Advertise with us COMMUNITIES Agronomy Edge Women in Agriculture Tribune EVENTS Britain’s Fittest Farmer Farmers Weekly Awards Farmers Apprentice WEATHER Subscribe - 15 February 2011 https://www.fwi.co.uk More in Farm policy News UK self-sufficiency in food – how bad is it? - 15 February 2011 >More in Farm policy News The UK’s self-sufficiency in staple foods like meat and fresh vegetables has plummeted since the highs of the 1980s, according to DEFRA’s own statistics. The issue has been raised by NFU president Peter Kendall who is using the NFU Conference to call on the government to reverse the UK’s dependence on food imports. Mr Kendall said the government must take urgent action to close the UK’s widening food gap as rich countries should not be sitting back and expecting the rest of the world to feed its people. DEFRA’s own statistics do show that the UK’s self sufficiency has consistently dropped since the highs of the 1980s. In 1984, the UK was 95% self-sufficient in indigenous food types. In 2009, the most recent year where figures are available, this figure had dropped to 72%. In terms of the UK’s self sufficency in all food types in 2009, the figure was 59% which is down from a high of 78% in 1984 (see table for more detail). However, Mr Kendall may find it hard to change the government’s views on what is an acceptable level of imports. Over the past decade ministers have repeatedly insisted that its policy towards food security is based on an international trade in food and food products. It is a sentiment that was repeated more recently in the government-backed Foresight Report on the Future of Food and Farming which was published in January 2011. “Food security is best served by fair and fully functioning markets and by liberalised global trade arrangements, not by policies to promote self-sufficiency,” the document concluded. “This report rejects food self-sufficiency as a viable option for nations to contribute to global food security, but stresses the importance of crafting food system governance to maximise the benefits of globalisation and to ensure that they are distributed fairly,” it added. Year UK self sufficiency in food (%) for: all food indigenous type food 1966 57 69 1967 58 70 1968 59 71 1969 60 72 1970 57 68 1971 58 69 1972 62 72 1973 62 73 1974 61 71 1975 66 77 1976 66 77 1977 61 73 1978 65 77 1979 66 78 1980 72 84 1981 76 88 1982 77 89 1983 76 89 1984 78 95 1985 73 89 1986 73 87 1987 74 86 1988 71 83 1989 75 87 1990 74 85 1991 75 87 1992 74 85 1993 74 85 1994 73 86 1995 74 87 1996 70 83 1997 68 82 1998 67 82 1999 68 82 2000 67 80 2001 63 75 2002 62 76 2003 64 77 2004 62 75 2005 60 73 2006 59 72 2007 60 73 2008 61 74 2009 (ii) 59 72 ii 2009 figures are provisional Source: DEFRA Read more NFU Conference coverage 2011 See more Farm policy News Share this Most recent See all Explore moreKnow How Visit our Know How centre for practical farming advice Related Most popular Explore Latest articles Know How Learning Centre Markets Products and services My Farmers Weekly Newsletters FW Today App Subscriber Benefits Corporate subscriptions Classifieds Jobs Property Machinery About us Help centre Contact us Advertise with us Subscribe Magazine store finder Reuse permissions Join us on Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Instagram TikTok Other services Agronomy Edge Women in Agriculture Tribune Farmo Events © 2026 MA Agriculture Ltd, a Mark Allen Group company Privacy Policy Cookies Policy Terms and conditions