11 Apr 2008


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I'm going to go veggie for a week

Consultant editor and carnivore Fiona Briggs on food shortages and ways to reduce environmental impact and help ensure food security

Fears of food shortages and food price inflation are gathering momentum.

This week it was announced the Prime Minister Gordon Brown has written to the chairman of the G8 group of industrialised nations to call for international action to tackle rising food prices.

In a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, Brown said: "Rising food prices threaten to roll back progress we have made in recent years on development.

"For the first time in decades, the number of people facing hunger is growing. Food prices have risen sharply leading to food riots in several countries."

Why? Increased wealth and growing populations in developing countries have contributed to steadily increasing global demand for grains, for food and animal feed. And the position has been aggravated by rapidly increasing biofuel production.

"Meanwhile, recent crop failures in major producing countries are reminders of the expected consequences of climate change, as the frequency and severity of extreme weather events increase in years to come," added Brown.

Brown has called for support for developing countries, which import food and are facing higher bills.

He also suggests backing agriculture in developing countries to increase the opportunities for people to support themselves through trade.

The severe food shortages and the ensuing responses in countries including Haiti, Egypt and Bangladesh put the UK's rising food and fuel price inflation firmly into perspective.

Nevertheless, rising food prices are a worldwide issue and, while the UK situation should not be compared with what's happening elsewhere in the world, there is still cause for concern.

The latest BRC/Nielsen figures show an increase in food prices remains the main driver behind overall shop price inflation.

From a grocery retail perspective, food and fuel price hikes in the UK are already impacting supermarket market shares.

The latest TNS data shows retailers with a value proposition and discounters are winning at the expense of mid-market operators.

Similarly, value lines are selling well while premium offerings are falling out of favour.

Food and fuel price inflation is driving another interesting trend too.

Earlier this week I reported on Dobbies' financial results.

The garden centre chain, in which Tesco has a majority stake, revealed plant sales declined last year but it enjoyed a 22% increase for fruit and vegetables as the whole 'grow your own' trend moved forward.

Similarly, a recent article in the Guardian revealed UK shoppers are buying vegetable seeds in favour of flower seeds.

According to a top seed supplier, the split between vegetables and flower seeds was 60:40 five years ago. Today the position is reversed and in some areas is 70:30 in favour of vegetables.

The seed suppliers say growth is due to people being more interested in the environment, wanting to take back control of what they eat and reduce food miles.

In addition, however, they state that food and fuel price inflation is helping to drive the shift to vegetable growing.

"You can plant your garden with veggies for the price of filling your car up with petrol," said one supplier.

"£50 of seed is a lot of vegetables. People tell us they are planning to spend much more time in the garden now because they cannot afford to go out so much."

Talking of veggies, a flier from The Vegetarian Society has just landed on my desk. It's promoting National Vegetarian Week 2008, 19-25 May.

It claims eating a vegetarian diet is better for the environment. I'm intrigued, so I decide to check out its web site.

"Why it's green to go vegetarian" features lots of interesting facts and claims, largely about beef production but also about water use, pollution, wildlife and over fishing.

And it states "by feeding grain and vegetables directly to people (rather than livestock) we can increase the amount of food available to everyone".

"Going vegetarian is an easy way to lower your own environmental impact and help ensure worldwide food security," it proclaims.

Now, I can't do much to solve the global food crisis, but I can give up meat, for a week, at least. And, what better time to begin that in National Vegetarian Week?

I will be recording how I get on in my meat-free week on my blog.

Who knows, if I can keep it going, I could be heading down the garden centre for some vegetable seed packets.

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Dee Thaya	14 Apr 2008 08:35:51
What an excellent idea Hope more people follow the same Only a week Help the environment Help the poor to get some food and free the animals