Session 4: Food security

Introduction

Figure 1 Belted Galloway cattle

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A group of black cattle each with a broad white band around their middle standing in a meadow.

Figure 1 Belted Galloway cattle

The way we produce food has changed immeasurably over the past 100 years, moving from locally grown food from small scale mixed farms to globally sourced, intensive, monoculture-based farming with fast moving supply chains. This model, in addition to raising some concerns around environmental impact and animal welfare, has important implications for our food security.

With a changing climate, crop yields are likely to become more variable, and world markets less predictable. Therefore food security within the UK is more important than ever. It is vital we value our agricultural land and the people who produce our food. To attain food security, we need to match sustainable systems to the crops best suited to them and to develop people’s awareness of production systems with the aim of encouraging consumers to make sustainable food choices.

In this session, you’ll find out about food security, choices for how we use floodplains to produce food and the role floodplain meadows play in supporting a sustainable, resilient food supply .

This session is the fourth of seven sessions on different but related topics that you might be interested in. The sessions in this course are as follows:

• Session 1: Biodiversity
• Session 2: Climate change
• Session 3: Flood risk
• Session 4: Food security
• Session 5: Connection to nature
• Session 6: Water quality
• Session 7: Next steps