Retailers 'already taking action to improve food system'

Retailers are already making improvements to their approach to a UK food system which has previously been criticised for ignoring soil quality and water usage, according to an expert.

Andrew Opie, food policy director at the British Retail Consortium, said that any improvements to the way the country produces and consumes its food will need to be consumer-focused.

His comments follow the publication last month of a report by the government's environmental watchdog, the Sustainable Development Commission, which said that the current food system is failing by producing a large amount of greenhouse gas emissions and paying insufficient attention to soil quality and water use.

"We do need a sustainable supply chain, but retailers do not need government statements to wake them up to these issues," said Mr Opie.

"They are already taking action."

Meanwhile, Stretton Court Farm is one British food producer which has already taken measures to improve its soil quality.

Farmers Guardian reported that the 200-hectare farm near Hereford has employed an integrated system of cultural, biological and chemical methods in order to make tree production more commercially viable.

Written by Lauren Steadman