FARMING TODAY

摘要

Images of old boys donning flat caps and tweed jackets may satisfy advertisers' demands for stereotypes to inspire confidence in a food industry battered by recent scandals. But as climate change threatens world food production for a growing population, the time for the farming sector to shrug off its outdated image is long overdue. Relative to the economy as a whole, agriculture has long been in decline and today the industry generates only a tiny proportion of national income - around 0.5%. At the same time agricultural output is declining relative to our overall food needs. As a nation we produce only 59% of the food we consume. In 2012, the UK exported £18bn worth of food, feed and drink, and imported £37.6bn.