The UK’s food system is under strain. In the past five years, food prices have risen by more than 37%, eroding living standards for millions of households and destabilising our economy.
Building on our 2023 report, Sowing Resilience, which focused on the barriers to scaling regenerative farming methods across the UK, this subsequent research, supported by McCain Foods, brings together new evidence and original modelling to assess the impacts of sustainable farming, and how to realise its benefits.
The evidence set out in this report shows that scaling sustainable farming could deliver powerful dividends far beyond the agricultural sector. Alongside its extensive environmental benefits, it can strengthen our economic security, national food security, and household food security. Our modelling shows the scale of this opportunity is substantial:
To unlock the potential, the report makes the case for developing what we call ‘economies of coordination’ – strengthening partnership and mutual benefit across the sector. In this way, collaboration between economic actors could help deliver the sustainable farming agenda, which in turn would deliver for citizens.