Food Supply
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 July 2025 to Question 64014 on Food Supply, by what metrics his Department (a) measures and (b) forecasts annual domestic food production.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Defra produces a comprehensive set of metrics to measure annual domestic food production but does not produce forecasts of domestic food production. These statistics cover a wide range of indicators, including:
- Arable & Horticultural crop areas
- Crop yields
- Volume of production and value of crops, fruit and vegetables, red meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs
- Volume of production of dairy and egg products
- Imports and exports of agricultural commodities
- Total domestic uses of these commodities
- Livestock populations, including the breeding population, of cattle, pigs, sheep, and poultry
- Production to Supply ratios of all major agricultural commodities
These metrics are publicly available in either the annual publication "Agriculture in the United Kingdom" at Agriculture in the United Kingdom - GOV.UK or on the Food & Farming Statistics publication page at Food, Farming and Bio-security statistics - GOV.UK.
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