Commenting on the government’s Food Strategy for England [1], which is launched today, co-leader of the Green Party, Adrian Ramsay, responded:
“This is not really a strategy at all – it’s junk. The failure to expand free and nutritional school meals or intervene to challenge fast and highly processed food will leave millions of children living in poverty, undernourished and in poor health.
“A genuine strategy would offer something new on the menu – it would look to transform our food and farming sector to tackle the cost of living crisis, improve public health and address the climate and ecological emergency. Instead, we’ve been dished up leftovers from an era that serves Tory paymasters, especially large scale farmers and the processed food industry.
“Up to a third of our carbon emissions are related to the food supply chain while chemical reliant farming has played a significant part in the loss of two-thirds of our wildlife over the last 50 years.
“England and Wales have fantastic examples of regenerative and organic farming methods in action, supplying healthy and sustainable food while capturing carbon in the soil and improving biodiversity. These are the approaches that the government needs to look to in shaping a healthy, resilient and greener food and farming sector.”
Notes [1] Food strategy criticised by government’s own adviser – BBC News