UK Environment Secretary Hilary Benn also said that food security would be affected by a growing global population eating more meat and dairy products, as well as a changing climate.

Benn said the farming industry had to embrace the challenges and opportunities posed by the changes and a human population expected to top nine billion within half a century.

Mr Benn said flood and water management, habitat provision for wildlife, biofuels and management of carbon in soils and woodland were all ways that farming could help the UK adapt to global warming and reduce emissions.

He added the “ecosystem services” that agriculture gives have to be better recognized and rewarded. However, the Minister acknowledged that farming’s contribution to greenhouse gases (GHG), about 7% of the nation’s emissions and the second largest contributor after the energy sector had to be addressed.

The Minister said farmers could play their part in cutting GHG emissions through biofuels and anaerobic digestion.  There were also business opportunities that needed to be taken up, such as longer growing seasons and the chance to grow new crops.

He did, however, warn that increasing floods and droughts due to climate change could disrupt food supply chains in the same way water supplies were affected by the summer floods in the West Country.

“There is perhaps a tendency to think that farmers will deal with and adapt to these impacts and risks, because farming has always coped with unpredictable weather patterns.  But in the kind of world of unprecedented and dangerous climate change which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns us we are now entering, that will only take us so far.  Agriculture needs to be at the heart of our efforts to adapt to a changing climate – for example by supporting flood and sustainable water management, or providing habitats to help wildlife to adapt.” said Benn.

The Minister commented that demand among consumers for sustainable farming, environmental protection and animal welfare meant that farmers who connected with their customers and met the growing demand for organic, local or seasonal food would do best.

National Farmers’ Union president Peter Kendall said, “I can assure Mr Benn that farmers in this country will rise to the challenges of providing the food supplies, climate change solutions and environmental quality that the country needs.  What we now need to see is Mr Benn’s welcome acknowledgement of the strategic value of farming read across to all areas of Government policy, from animal disease to water."

Kendall said however, that there was the need for increased production and improved environmental performance required technology, investment and a more coherent Government policy.

He also called for retailers and meat processors to pay livestock farmers sustainable prices, saying “Rising world demand, climate change and energy security have combined to make agriculture a strategically important industry once again, a sector that offers society solutions, not problems,” he said.  THE END.