Daniel Hannan makes some startling assertions from time to time but this weekend in The Telegraph (HERE) he claims we should "embrace depending on the rest of the world for our food". How the farming community and Julian Sturdy, MP for York Outer and farmer will take this I don't know. They are calling for more home grown food so that we are less reliant on overseas suppliers.
We already import about 40% of the food we eat, the highest for a very long time but Hannan suggests we should increase this further without any worries at all! For an advanced country to rely on others to feed its population is not in my opinion a good idea. If we can feed ourselves then we should. We will never be able to reach 100% but we should get as close as is reasonably possible.
It does not make sense economically since we are importing stuff unnecessarily when we already have a huge trade gap and we find it difficult to export the manufactured goods and services that we need to pay for our imports. But it does not make environmental sense either to transport food thousands of miles unnecessarily.
But more importantly, no one knows what the future holds and security of supply of foodstuffs is highly desirable. I am not suggesting war or conflict but if we have unforeseen weather related issues in countries which supply our food will they honour contracts or divert food to their own populations? What about strikes or diplomatic and regulatory problems or simple issues of quality and standards? This is to say nothing of the thousands of farmers and people employed on the land at the moment.
No the EU was formed partly to ensure security of supply of high quality food at stable and affordable prices for Europeans and keeping good environmental standards at the same time. If we have to leave temporarily we should stick to EU ideals on this important issue.
