M&S is calling on the government to set legally binding targets to increase the proportion of British food eaten in Britain.
The retailer is demanding the government treat the matter similarly to net zero targets, starting by embedding more support for British farmers into its national food strategy.
It is also calling for assurances that the UK’s high food standards are protected in international trade deals.
M&S Food MD Alex Freudmann said Britain was getting “less and less self-sufficient as a country”, with over 6,000 farms having closed in the last year.
He said national food security was “under pressure like never before”, as farmers battled challenges from climate change to tax increases for employers.
“British farming is the backbone of our food industry and the foundation of M&S Food,” Freudmann said.
“British food is the best in the world and at M&S, we’ve invested millions to support our farmers who produce it. But the future of British agriculture can’t rest on industry alone.
“That’s why we’re backing our farmers in their call for government to step up – starting with a clear, legally binding target to increase the proportion of food eaten in Britain that is grown here. It’s time to turn warm words into action.”
He added: “If it was set down in law, just like the net zero targets are, it could tilt the balance towards farmers.”
M&S wants “complex government grants” for farmers to be replaced with simpler incentives and allowances.
It also wants the government’s food strategy, which ministers are currently working on, to introduce apprenticeships and training schemes for businesses, schools, colleges, and universities to show young people the opportunities in farming and provide necessary skills.
M&S also announced its own new commitments to British producers, including a £7m investment in sustainability and innovation over the next five years, on top of £7m already provided in its ‘Farming for the Future’ programme.
The retailer’s newly announced ‘Plan A for Farming’ programme also includes a commitment that by 2030 all its British products will come from farms using regenerative practices.
Speaking at the launch of the new programme at an M&S farm in Wiltshire, Freudmann said: “Supporting British farmers like this to give them long-term security is something we do every day.
“But the reason we’re here today is because there is a problem. The problem is that Britain has been and should be one of the best places in the world for farming. We’ve got long daylight hours, rich soils, good rainfall and we’ve got brilliant farmers.
“But British farmers are telling us they are increasingly fed up. And the headwinds facing their businesses and ways of life are coming from all directions.
“You’ve got climate change,” he said, with one M&S farmer having to “do planting around the farm to provide shade for the animals for what you expect to be temperatures in 10 years’ time”.
“Spring 2025 was the driest of the century. Winter 2023 was the second-wettest on record. And global instability is spiking energy, fertiliser and feed prices.”
He said there was a “succession problem”, with almost one in three farmers aged over 65.
“And it feels to our farmers like the government is making things harder.”
Freudmann said grant schemes were hard to access, planning laws gave little priority to food production and “rising payroll taxes add labour to the list of sharply increasing costs”.
M&S also reaffirmed a commitment to sourcing 100% British across beef, chicken, pork and milk.
The retailer said it was enhancing its ‘milk pledge’ – in which it commits to fair pricing for British dairy farmers in its milk pool – by collaborating with farmers in “real-time monitoring” of the health and wellbeing of animals via AI.
“We are really trying hard to create that environment that gives farmers the confidence to invest and grow. But while we recognise we have a critical part to play, our farmers are telling us we can’t do it alone. We also need help from the government.
“If ministers are committed to domestic food supply, then they need to prove it. And what ever action ministers take, they need to take it quickly.”
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