Tom Kerridge: the new Government needs to help British farmers

The NHS. Affordable property. The deficit. These are the hot topics which our politicians are fiercely debating as we head towards the general election on Thursday. But there’s one issue which hasn't got quite so much air time – farming.

Chef Tom Kerridge, the owner of the Michelin-starred Hand and Flowers and The Coach in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, thinks that this needs to change. He is backing an initiative by the the National Farmers Union to put British food and agriculture at the heart of the next Government.

“In terms of political parties, whoever gets in needs in heavily needs to put British farming on the agenda, as something gets looked at and supported in a huge huge way,” he says firmly.

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Mr Kerridge, who uses between 85 and 90 per cent British produce at his two restaurants, believes that Britain is over-reliant on imported foods, and is failing to support local farmers. “In terms of self-sufficiency, Britain is only at something like 60 per cent self-sufficient, and if it continues the way its going, it's drop to around 53 per cent in the next 25 years.

"That’s actually quite shocking, to think we’re this amazing northern European island that should be self-sufficient. If you think post-war, we were almost 100 per cent self-sufficient. I do understand that a lot of this comes from interest in foreign, different foods, but we should still be embracing everything we have close to these shores a lot lot more.”

Food and farming is now worth £103bn a year to the UK economy, employing one in eight of those in jobs in the UK, with exports at nearly £19bn, but many farmers have struggled to cope with falling prices of grain and milk, as well as price wars between supermarkets. Kerridge believes agriculture could be an economic goldmine, if given the right support. “In economic terms, the food and farming industry is absoloutely massive for this country,” he says, “The whole of the tourist industry is based around food and drink.”

^{Many UK farmers are struggling (ALAMY)}

The Conservatives pledged in their manifesto to put farming in their long-term economic plan for the country, by taking such steps as trebling the number of apprentices in agriculture and setting up a “Great British Food Unit” to promote British food around the world. For Kerridge, however the most important change needs to happen closer to home, in supermarkets. ”We know consumers are looking for more and more British produce – statistics show that 85 per cent of people think supermarkets shoud sell more food produced in British farms. So more and more British products being sold in supermarkets would be great.”

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British-grown food can be more expensive than cheap imported alternatives, though – is that not a concern? "Price is obviously key, but we should look at quality, too” he says. “British food is less in food miles and it's easier for us to maintain higher standardas because it comes from our shores.

"Look at the horsemeat scandal. That’s food that’s come from all sorts of abattoirs and meat processing plants across Europe than ended up on our shores. If you were buying British, and we were keeping a lot tighter control, that horsemeat scandal would happen or should never happen again."

So what British foods do we need to celebrate the most? ”Root vegetables is something we are phenomenal at, and it does get overlooked – we grow wonderful varieties of potatoes and turnips,” he says. “Now in spring time it’s prime season for asparagus. I know people use asparagus all year round when they buy it from Peru or wherever, but right now the best asparagus in the world definitely comes from Great Britain.

“British lamb is coming through and it’s a wonderful thing to be using, instead of importing it from New Zealand. Everyone thinks of New Zealand lamb as being good but it's travelled from the other side of the world and probably been frozen. British lamb is fantastic - and we should be using it right now."

People can join Tom in showing their support for British food and farming at votebritishfood.com