The Covid-19 pandemic has seen a massive increase in supermarket power in the food chain with much of the hospitality sector closed down, says Tim Lang of City University. I would add, how far will people revert to their former habits of eating and drinking out when we eventually return to a version of normality, a date that is advancing into the future.
Lang also says: 'UK food policy has fragmented despite talk of "levelling up". English farm policy now says next to nothing about food. It’s focused on ecosystems. Northern Ireland’s border is becoming the Irish Sea, not 310 land miles. The Agriculture Act anticipates dramatic cuts in farm subsidies. At last, say some. Me too, as they kept farmers in serfdom, producing too cheap commodities from which others took the value – but no-one wants more expensive food.'
Some real dilemmas there. I have started work on a commissioned book on a radical analysis of agriculture and food policy. One of the challenges is to see how far we can integrate the two, as happened during and after the Second World War. Given the tendency of government to operate in 'silos', I am not too hopeful.
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