Here are the climate-related sections of speeches by MPs during the Commons debate Climate Change: Food Security.
Matt Western (Labour)
1. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of climate change on food security.
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00:00 Daniel Zeichner (Labour)
Let me start by acknowledging just how tough it has been for so many farmers this year, having been faced with the very extreme weather conditions. We have had very hot weather, following on from last year, when many suffered from floods. It is undeniable that we are seeing our climate changing. The Government are responding by tackling flooding, investing a record £8 billion in flood defences to protect homes and farms, helping to tackle problems in rural communities such as mine in the fens through our £91 million internal drainage board fund, and investing in nature-friendly farming, which boosts climate resilience, enhances farming profitability and secures food production.
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Rishi Sunak (Conservative)
I recently visited the Dinsdale family farm to talk to the group of hard-working dairy farmers who provide milk to the Wensleydale Creamery to make their famous Yorkshire cheese. I know the Minister will join me in commending their contribution to British food security and the Dinsdale family for their innovative installation of an anaerobic digestion unit, which turns slurry into energy. Could he look at what more can be done to encourage small-scale on-farm AD units, which not only significantly cut methane emissions but significantly cut costs and increase income for our hard-working family farmers?
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Rachael Maskell (Labour)
The depletion of soil health, the risk of disease and climate change threaten our food security for the longer term, and yet we need biotechnologies and sciences to ensure that we have a future in farming. Would the Minister be willing to meet the BioYorkshire project, which brings together Fera Science, the University of York, Askham Bryan College and others, to ensure we have the research and the translation and scaling of that to protect the future of farming?
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Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat)
In June, the Scottish Government made a very welcome commitment not to pursue a deliberate policy of reducing livestock numbers. Despite that, livestock numbers in Scotland continue to fall and have fallen by 15% over 10 years, so that across the United Kingdom we now risk losing the critical mass we need to maintain the network of abattoirs, hauliers, vets and merchants. If food security genuinely is national security, is now the moment to consider including within the remit of the Climate Change Committee the maintenance of food security?
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