FARMER FOCUS: Nuffield journey comes to a close

The 2013 Nuffield Conference in Cardiff marks the end of an amazing Nuffield journey for me. Quite how I’ve managed to spend 10 weeks overseas travelling to seven countries and over 35,000 air miles during the last year I’m not really sure, but certainly it’s a little strange being at home again.
It’s relatively common for scholars to deviate from their original subject once they get going, and I certainly did. Originally inspired by my involvement with Fairtrade I was distracted from the beginning of my research towards the big global issues and, choosing to follow my fascination, concentrated my travel and study mainly on the effects that water depletion will have on our ability to feed a growing global population. Drawing together my conclusions for my recently published Nuffield report The real cost of cheap food, I discovered that actually where I’ve ended up possibly isn’t so far from where I’d originally expected.
A future of undeliverable food demand is certainly going to present us all with considerable opportunities and challenges that very few seem to be aware of. Cheap oil and industrial agriculture has facilitated the massive devaluation of food and now we’re faced with the dilemma of the cheapest food literally costing the earth. Eighteen months ago, pre-Nuffield, I could easily have been described as a climate change sceptic, with little understanding or interest in biodiversity or organics. I certainly don’t profess to have become an expert, but expecting that we continue with the “business as usual approach”, increasing global food production to satisfy demand, is frankly crazy. Huge areas of productive land around the world are being eroded or lost to urbanisation every year. In other areas, where food is now being produced very efficiently through irrigation, water is beginning to run out as the effects of an increasingly unpredictable climate and over-use hit production.
As you receive this edition of Farmers Weekly I will be at the Sustainable Food Trust’s “True Cost Accounting” conference in London, attempting to discover just how much our food is actually costing the earth. As one door closes another one opens.
Robert Craig farms a 160ha all-grass dairy unit in north-east Cumbria. A passionate grassland farmer, Robert aims to maximise profit while ensuring a balanced and enjoyable life. Robert is also current Cumbria NFU chairman
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