The National Federation of Women’s Institutes is looking to make food security a key campaigning issue for its members in 2013.

The WI last night kicked off a ‘Great Food Debate’ on the subject with the publication of a report – entitled Food for Thought – outlining the key food issues facing the UK and the world in the 21st century.

According to the report, these include rising food prices, food waste, climate change, malnutrition and obesity as well as the use of food crops for biofuels, among others.

WI chairwoman Ruth Bond said policy makers already acknowledged that food security was an important issue, but awareness among the general public was much lower. “Food security is a concern for everyone, yet to date there has been little public conversation about the issues despite the key role that consumers can play and the personal impact that decisions about our food and farming systems have on consumers,” she said.

To change this, WI members would start holding regional debates on food security issues, Bond added. “We all have a duty to stand up, acknowledge the pressing issues that face us, and finally take responsibility for the food so many of us take for granted to ensure that the choices we make now do not penalise generations in the future.”

Among the more controversial subjects covered in the WI report (which was produced by the centre-left thinkthank IPPR) are large-scale intensive farming and genetically modified foods and feed. On intensive farming, the report says large-scale farms have “a role to play” but stresses there is also a clear place for other, smaller production systems, while GM technologies could also play a part “if they can be appropriately regulated”.

It also claims one of the key food security challenges of the future is figuring out UK consumers can be “persuaded to eat less meat and dairy”, given the impact of dairy and meat production on the environment, and suggests the WI’s ‘day of action’ on food waste from 2005/6 could be used as a blueprint for an anti-waste campaign targeted at the food supply chain. “Could a WI call to action push supermarkets to be more responsible for any excess supply of food caused as a result of their contracts with farmers?” the report asks.

Speaking at the launch event last night, Defra secretary of state Owen Paterson said food security was the joint responsibility of government, the industry and consumers, and the UK was well equipped to rise to the food security challenge. “The government is working to capitalise on the opportunities offered by the growing global demand for high-quality British products,” he added. “Industry is investing in science to keep Britain at the cutting edge of food technology. Consumers are voting with their money by demanding sustainable products and clearer labelling.”

National Farmers Union president Peter Kendall said the NFU welcomed the WI’s debate on food security, adding it was “morally questionable to assume we can continue to buy our food from wherever we want to”. However, he also warned there were “many complicated trade-offs” to be made trying to tackle food security.