Yesterday's Guardian:
A food crisis is highly likely in the UK, with price and availability becoming issues that swing the outcome of future elections, according to a report from the thinktank Chatham House.
The UK's food system is unable to cope with rapid changes in supply driven by climate change, rising energy prices and population growth, the report says. Consumers are likely to have to accept a shift from individual preferences to a system in which government and industry have to ensure the food that is sold reflects the wider needs of society.
In other words, rationing...
• UK consumers use food at a rate that represents six times more land and sea than is available to them.
• Developed countries face a chronic shortage of migrant workers, leading to the loss of seasonal crops. In Scotland up to a fifth of the soft fruit crop, worth £5.2m, could be lost in 2008.
• Falling yields due to climate change will inflate food prices further.