The last year has seen an increased emphasis on food security and sustainability, although various reports and strategies have been published advocating these topics, advances in them have been mainly as a result of the current global and financial environment.
'Food 2030, the Government's Strategy for Food', published in January 2010, was to provide underpinning for a vision of "a sustainable and secure food system". The six core issues of Food 2030 referred to healthy eating initiatives, ensuring a resilient, profitable and competitive food system, increasing food production sustainably, reducing the food system's greenhouse gas emissions, reducing, reusing and reprocessing waste and increasing the impact of skills, knowledge, research and technology.
One year on, Food 2030 has been joined by the Foresight Project, published January 2011. Central to the conclusions of the Foresight Project was the recognition that more food needs to be produced from existing land and resources through the 'sustainable intensification' of agriculture. There must be reduction in waste and emissions, trade freed up and targeted investment in agricultural research and innovation to increase the yield and climate resilience of food crop production.
The current economic uncertainty appears to be the main driving force for business in pursuing these aims. Rising fuel and commodity prices and falling crop yields are underlining the importance to business of sustainable food production and causing it to examine supply chains, ingredients and food miles.
Procurement management capabilities are key and companies are becoming more involved with assisting suppliers with R&D and innovation to achieve better yields and better quality. Product innovation is also being used on the finished product to replace more expensive ingredients and/or add value to the product.
Cost pressures in the food supply chain, volatile raw material prices and a squeezed consumer mean that cost savings via reduced packaging, waste and supply lines and improved efficiencies make a good business case in a competitive marketplace.
However, the importance of food production for future food security may also bring it into conflict with some disagreements within Europe in relation to innovation and new technologies in food, as evidenced by the debate surrounding the Novel Foods Regulation.
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.
The original publication date for this article was 19/05/2011.
