January 11, 2010
The Trumpet
Just two years ago, Britain was self-sufficient in milk. Now the country imports 15.5 million liters (3.17 million U.S. pints) a day. Britain’s farming decline is so bad that on January 4 the government launched a new campaign to boost Britain’s self-sufficiency in food.
Photo: Foot-and-mouth disease makes a comeback in Britain. England and Wales are currently losing nine dairy farms a week. Since 1985, the number of dairy farmers has more than halved. (Getty Images)
Since 1997, Britain has gone from being 75% self-sufficient in food production to 60%. Robin Page writes in the Daily Mail that “In that time, too, the UK has produced 35% less beef, 25% less lamb and 35% less pork. In 1985 there were 28,000 dairy farmers in England and Wales – by November 2009 there were just 11,551, and we are currently losing nine dairy farms a week.” Britain is now losing 1% of self-sufficiency in food production a year.
This is all “despite the fact that we are blessed with one of the most temperate climates in the world and our most successful crop is grass,” writes Page.
Over the same time, the number of farmers and farm workers has fallen from 477,000 to 353,000. Livestock numbers have also fallen. “In England over the past 20 years, pig numbers have tumbled from 6.8 million to 3.9 million; cows from 7.3million to 5.6 million; sheep from 18.2 million to 15.4 million; and the area of sugar beet has been reduced from 195,000 hectares to 125,000 hectares,” says Page.
“Food security is as important to this country’s future well-being, and the world’s, as energy security,” said Environment Secretary Hilary Benn, as he launched the new government program. “We need to produce more food.”
This food shortage is both a symptom and a cause of Britain’s decline. A symptom, because God promised blessings to Britain and America if they obeyed Him, and curses if they did not.
But it is also a cause. Britain suffered great shortages during World War ii. It is very dangerous for an island to be dependent upon imports for food. Forty percent of Britain’s food comes from overseas. This leaves the nation vulnerable.
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