A NORTH Yorkshire MP is calling for action to improve the UK’s food security and improve production on British farms.

Thirsk and Malton MP Anne McIntosh is chairman of the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, which today launched its report into food production and security.

The report says extreme weather events resulting from climate change is the biggest threat British food producers face, and calls from more resilience and better long term weather forecasts to stop freak weather having a disastrous affect on farm output.

Miss McIntosh said: “Complacency is a genuine risk to future UK food security. If we want our food production and supply systems to be secure, Government and food producers must plan to meet the impacts of climate change, population growth and increasing global demand for food.”

The report shows that for key cereal crops like wheat, yields on British farms have not increased for over 15 years, while the country’s self-sufficiency in crops that can be produced at home has fallen from 87 percent to just 68 percent in the last 20 years.

The committee wants to see a package of moves from farmers, supermarkets and Government alike to make Britain’s food supply more stable, reduce emissions, and encourage more people into farming to make sure the sector has a future in the UK.