I may not have a background in the food industry but I do know business. And the best businesses are the ones that anticipate and respond to what their customers want.
So new research commissioned by the ground-breaking food and farming certification scheme Fair to Nature from the RSPB should be a wake-up call to farmers, food & drink brands and supermarkets.
The Ipsos Mori survey highlights growing concern about nature loss and a desire to halt its decline. As many as 70% of UK adults were found to be concerned with UK wildlife declines.
Many of us will have recently watched the BBC’s spectacular Wild Isles, and most of us will have been shocked to learn about the danger faced by nature in our country. But the nature crisis is not only in remote parts of the ‘wild isles’: it is on our doorstep, and if you take a walk through the countryside this weekend, you will see that wildlife is in decline.
Even though we can see the biodiversity crisis with our own eyes, most people don’t realise how the destruction of critical ecosystems puts the security of our food supply at risk.
In the last 50 years, over half our farmland birds have disappeared. Indeed, almost half of all wildlife species in the UK have declined during this period, and the number of wildflower meadows has shrunk by 97% since the 1930s.
It is challenging to understand the scale of the crisis, but we must acknowledge nature is being damaged at a terrifying rate, and we must urgently take action to stop biodiversity declines.
There are many reasons to be concerned about biodiversity loss but most importantly, we depend on nature to provide our food. Put simply, without nature there is no food. As an investor I know there’s no future for a company if the raw materials it relies on are no longer available.
With more than two-thirds of Britain’s entire land area currently being farmed, and approximately one million of the world’s estimated total eight million species of plants and animals under threat of extinction, we must act before it is too late to avert a critical situation for food production. So, how should the food supply chain respond?
The food and farming certification scheme Fair to Nature should provide us all with hope.
Managed by the RSPB, Fair to Nature is the only UK certification scheme with a focus on biodiversity and reversing the loss of nature that threatens our long-term food supply. Given that research shows UK wildlife decline is a key concern for consumers, the certification scheme not only boosts biodiversity but consumer confidence too.
Under the scheme, farmers make at least 10% of their farmed land available – including areas which are difficult to farm productively – for a range of high-quality nature habitats.
Food brands who buy ingredients from certified farms can display the recently launched RSPB Fair to Nature Mark, meaning consumers are provided with the reassurance they need that their choices are scientifically proven to reverse wildlife declines and deliver the highest level of biodiversity.
Given the cost of living crisis, some readers may be sceptical that environmental concerns will trump low prices, but this really matters to more and more customers.
Authentic sustainability claims are vital to gain the trust of an increasingly environmentally-conscious market. Fair to Nature consumers can be safe in the knowledge they can trust a standard guaranteed by science and certified by the RSPB.
Food brands must lead the way by adopting the certification to help consumers purchase products that prevent a future without food. That’s something we can all invest in.
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