Mark T

The UK government has spent years heaping costs, regulation and tax uncertainty onto British food producers, Farmers, and Small businesses - then turns around and tells the public to stockpile three days of tinned food and bottled water because "unexpected events seem to be becoming more common." Official figures show a net loss of more than 3,000 agriculture, forestry and fishing businesses in 2025 alone, the highest on record, with thousands more closures in the years before that. Inheritance tax changes on family farms (even after partial U-turns), soaring energy and inspection costs, labour shortages, post-Brexit trade deals that opened the door to cheaper imports, and chaotic subsidy schemes that left most applicants empty-handed have all piled on the pressure. Local abattoirs have collapsed from roughly 2,500 in the 1970s to around 200 today; surveys of farmers show large numbers warning they may have to stop producing meat locally or exit entirely if the next one closes. This week the government launched its "Be Ready" campaign, advising households to keep non-perishable food, litres of bottled water per person, cash, torches and radios in case of cyber attacks, extreme weather or other disruptions. That is sensible basic preparedness. What is absurd is watching the same state systematically weaken the domestic producers who actually grow and process the food that would make the country more resilient in the first place, while imports fill the gap and rural businesses fold. You cannot talk seriously about national resilience and food security while watching the infrastructure that produces British food shrink year after year. The contradiction is obvious.