Climate crisis could benefit British food industry, minister says

Temperate regions of the world, including here in the UK, will find strong demand’ for produce, George Eustice says

George Eustice made the comments at the National Farmers’ Union conference (Getty)

The climate crisis could benefit the British food industry as it becomes harder for other countries to grow produce, the environment secretary has suggested.

George Eustice told a farming conference that warmer temperatures could lead to water shortages across the world and create strong demand for UK produce.

The United Nations says the availability of water is already becoming less predictable in many places due to the climate crisis.

Warmer temperatures are also increasing the risk of droughts in already dry regions.

Speaking at the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) conference on Tuesday, Mr Eustice said the climate crisis is going to “mean that water scarcity becomes an issue in parts of the world, and parts of the world that have good and versatile agricultural land today may find it harder to produce crops in future”.

Mr Eustice’s comments were met with dismay in some quarters.

Sam Hall, the chair of the Conservative Environment Network, said: “Lots of concerning challenges for the farming sector were rightly highlighted at yesterday’s NFU conference, such as labour shortages and trade, but it’s a shame there is still a reluctance to acknowledge the importance of nature to food security.”

In 2019, a study found the climate crisis could result in large parts of southern and eastern England being unable to support crops.

In the same year, a research briefing by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology said agriculture was “one of the most vulnerable sectors” to the impacts of the climate crisis, with changes in weather and shifts to pests affecting food production and security around the world.