Food & Farming · Monday, 5 October 2026

01 Briefing what happened

Britain has no national food store, and 150 experts tell Andy Burnham to treat food as national security

Food & Farming 18 sources

More than 150 experts say Britain has no plan to feed people in a crisis, while 15 US states sue Corteva over its seed spin-off, France's corn harvest halves and nobody in England checks how farmed fish are killed.

150+

experts who signed the letter to Britain's prime minister

they include academics, business leaders and community food groups [1]

national food stores Britain holds today

ministers wound up the wartime stockpile in the 1990s [1]

-17%

Britain's spring barley yield, against its five-year average

one Essex farmer's worst wheat fields yielded 25% to 40% less [3]

The lead story — what happened

More than 150 experts sent an open letter to Andy Burnham, Britain's prime minister, warning that the country has no plan to feed people in a crisis. [1]
The signers are academics, business leaders, community groups and local food partnerships. They say Britain's government is complacent about food as a matter of national security. [1]
Britain holds no national store of food. Ministers wound up the stockpile kept since the second world war in the 1990s. [1]
Food reaches British shops just in time, so little stock is held anywhere along the way. The letter says that system does not fit today's threats. [1]
The threats it names are the climate, conflicts between countries, cyber-attacks, power cuts, software failures and false information. [1]
It asks for local food committees under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, the law that sets out who plans for emergencies. [1]
It also asks for national, regional and local food stores, and a check on how much Britain relies on imports and a few very large food companies. [1]
The UK government's own plan is aimed at homes. The Cabinet Office, which runs emergency planning, will launch a campaign telling people to keep tinned food. [1]
The letter says many lower-income households cannot afford to build up a stock of food. [1]
This summer showed the reliance on imports. At the peak of the British growing season, wholesalers and supermarkets bought iceberg lettuce and broccoli from Spain and the Netherlands. [2]
Britain's own grain harvest was poor. Spring barley came in 17% below its five-year average, oats 14% and winter wheat 11%, by figures from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, which farmers pay to track crops. [3]
Weeks earlier, the National Audit Office, which checks UK government spending, said ministers were not doing enough to help homes and businesses plan for emergencies. [1]

Spring barley17%

Oats14%

Winter wheat11%

How far below its five-year average each British crop came in this year, by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board's figures.

Who is involved

Andy Burnham

Britain's prime minister; the letter is addressed to him
Tim Lang

a professor of food policy at City St George's, University of London; one of the signers, he wants more food grown and stored closer to home
Angela Eagle

Britain's environment secretary; she has advised households to keep a few days of food and water
The Cabinet Office

the UK government department that runs emergency planning; it plans a campaign telling people to stock tinned food

How it unfolded

1990s ministers wind up Britain's wartime food stockpile [1]
Summer 2026 the UK's hottest summer on record; lettuce and broccoli bought in from Spain and the Netherlands [2][3]
Weeks ago the National Audit Office says ministers are not doing enough on emergency planning [1]
5 Oct 150 experts publish their letter to the prime minister [1]
Next the Cabinet Office campaign telling households to stock tinned food [1]

Where this points

Watch whether Burnham's government answers with anything beyond the household tinned-food campaign, such as the local food committees or the food stores the letter asks for. [1]

What is pushing on the whole day

The bar and the word are our reading of how hard each one is pushing today. The arrow is where it is heading. The evidence is in the stories below.

Heat and drought cutting harvests High↑

France expects its corn harvest to halve this year after Europe's heatwave. [2] In Essex, one farmer's worst wheat fields yielded 25% to 40% less. [3] The head of Costa, the coffee chain, says El Nino could hit coffee growers in Latin America next. [15]

Checks that never happen Building→

Britain has held no national food store since the 1990s. [1] England's wildfire programme, promised for 2023 to 2027, never started. [5] No agency routinely inspects fish slaughterhouses in England and Wales. [12]

Fuel bills climbing High↑

US diesel averaged $6.41 a gallon at the end of September, close to a record. [11] Louisiana and Oklahoma now allow untaxed tractor diesel in road vehicles. [10] Rural US voters named gas and groceries among the prices that worry them most. [18]

Governments steering what people eat Building↑

Scotland has now banned multi-buy deals on junk food in its shops. [13] Britain's government gave 10 million pounds to 45 areas short of healthy, affordable food. [4] Half of rural US voters in a new poll back the Make America Healthy Again movement. [18]

The rest of the day

14 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

02
Flavio Bolsonaro leads Brazil into a runoff

Flavio Bolsonaro, a right-wing senator and son of jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro, came first in Brazil's presidential vote on Sunday. [6][7] With 99.9% of votes counted he had 47%, against 45.1% for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. [7] Neither passed the half needed to win outright, so they meet again on 25 October. [6] Clearing of the Amazon rainforest rose sharply under Jair Bolsonaro, while Lula has a record of tighter environmental rules. [6]

Flavio Bolsonaro47%
Lula45.1%
Share of the first-round vote with 99.9% counted. Neither reached the half needed to win outright.

Why it matters — China is Brazil's biggest trading partner and the key buyer of its soy and beef, and Flavio Bolsonaro has promised to keep a practical relationship with it. [6] The runoff decides which man sets Brazil's rules on clearing forest for cattle and soy.
03
15 US states sue Corteva over its spin-off

Fifteen US states sued Corteva, a large American seed and farm-chemicals company, on Thursday. [8] They say it moved its seed business into a new company, Vylor, to keep it out of reach of bills for PFAS pollution. [8] PFAS are man-made 'forever chemicals' that do not break down and have polluted the environment. [8] Corteva came out of DuPont, which made them for decades, and took on part of DuPont's pollution bills. [8] Corteva says the claims are unproven and that it never made or sold PFAS. [8]

Why it matters — Corteva now keeps the crop-chemical business and Vylor the seeds, which aims for up to $11.9bn of sales by 2029. [8] A federal judge in South Carolina refused California's request to stop the split the day before it happened. [8]
04
France's corn harvest falls by half

France, the European Union's biggest corn grower, expects its harvest to fall by half this year to under 7 million tonnes. [2] That would be its smallest in 50 years, according to the US farm department's foreign service. [2] Europe's 2026 heatwave caused it. [2] Tate & Lyle, a British maker of food ingredients, had already spread its corn buying across more places after France's 2022 drought, to keep its European mills running. [2]

Why it matters — Corn goes into food, animal feed and fuel at once, so a short crop squeezes all three, says Kerry, another ingredients company. [2] Buying from many regions helps, but buyers admit a second supplier is little use when the same heatwave hits both. [2]
05
India carries grain messages between Russia and Ukraine

India's foreign minister, S. Jaishankar, said on Sunday that India is passing messages between Russia and Ukraine. [9] The talks cover the safety of ships in the Black Sea and both countries' grain and energy exports. [9] It was the first time India said it was involved in this way. [9] He spoke at a Munich Security Conference meeting held in Delhi, and defended India's close ties with Russia. [9]

Why it matters — Grain from Russia and Ukraine leaves by sea through the Black Sea, so any agreement on safe shipping reaches bread buyers far from the war. These are conversations so far, not a deal. [9]
06
A third of US states cut fuel taxes

About a third of US states now offer some relief on fuel taxes, many of them in the past week, an Associated Press review found. [11] Ohio's lawmakers passed a 90-day holiday from the state's gas tax. [11] Louisiana lets farmers run red-dyed diesel, an untaxed fuel meant for tractors, in road vehicles, and Oklahoma and Texas have widened its use on roads too. [10] Diesel averaged $6.41 a gallon, a few cents under the record set the week before. [11]

Why it matters — Nebraska and South Dakota also let trucks carrying crops and livestock run heavier during the harvest. [10] The high prices come from the US war with Iran and Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, which a tax cut does not change. [10]
07
England's wildfire plan never started

England's government quietly dropped a plan to prepare the countryside for wildfires, the Guardian found through a freedom of information request. [5] Britain's previous, Conservative government had promised in 2023 to run a wildfire risk programme until 2027, so land would be managed for the risk of fire. [5] Burnham's government says that promise was never brought into effect. [5] More than half of 29 fire services that answered had no protective kit for wildfires. [5]

Why it matters — This summer brought record wildfires to Britain's dry countryside, including one near the Sizewell B nuclear plant in Suffolk. [5] Campaigners want peat bogs made wet again and lost ponds in farmers' fields restored. [5]
08
Nobody checks how farmed fish are killed

Up to 77 million fish are slaughtered in the UK each year, but no agency routinely inspects fish slaughterhouses in England and Wales. [12] The charity Animal Equality UK asked. [12] The Animal and Plant Health Agency sent it to the Fish Health Inspectorate, and both the inspectorate and the Food Standards Agency said they do no routine checks. [12] Britain's government promised humane killing rules for farmed fish in December 2025, but no draft law has appeared. [12]

Why it matters — The animal health agency says fish farms are inspected and cruelty reports investigated, so the gap is at the moment of killing. [12] UK government advisers first asked for a law on it in 1996. [12]
09
Scotland bans multi-buy deals on junk food

Shops in Scotland can no longer run deals like three for 10 pounds on foods high in fat, sugar or salt. [13] They also cannot put those foods at entrances, checkouts or the ends of aisles. [13] The rules cover businesses with more than 50 staff, from supermarkets to petrol stations and garden centres. [13] England banned such deals in October 2025 and Wales in March. [13]

Why it matters — Simple discounts such as half off are still allowed. [13] Makers of crisps, biscuits, cereals and sugary drinks have now lost their best shelf spots in all three countries. [13]
10
45 areas get money for local food projects

Angela Eagle, Britain's environment secretary, announced 10 million pounds for the 45 areas in most need of healthy, affordable food. [4] It is called the Good Food Neighbourhood Programme. [4] In Lancashire, Blackpool, Pendle, Rossendale and Burnley councils each get 222,000 pounds. [4] Burnley says it will build a community grocer, a shop that sits between a food bank and a supermarket. [4]

Why it matters — Councils, not Britain's national government, will spend it on their own community food projects. [4] It came the same week experts said Britain has no national plan to feed people in a crisis. [1]
11
Greenland weighs killing sharks that cut fishing lines

Avannaata, a district in north-west Greenland, approved a plan this year to kill 1,000 Greenland sharks, paying 300 krone for each heart. [14] Halibut fishers say the sharks get tangled in their gear and cut their lines; one says he lost 6,000 hooks this year. [14] The plan was dropped after Greenland's government questioned whether it was legal. [14] Greenland sharks can live more than 400 years and only start breeding at about 150. [14]

Why it matters — Fishing makes up about a quarter of Greenland's economy. [14] A conservation group says too many boats and smaller fish are the deeper problem, and sharks from other waters would replace any that were killed. [14]
12
Costa's coffee shops make a profit again

The main coffee shop business of Costa, Britain's biggest coffee chain, made an operating profit of 20 million pounds in 2025, after losing 13.5 million in 2024. [15] Sales rose 5% to almost 1.3 billion pounds. [15] Costa, owned by Coca-Cola, credits iced drinks, matcha and fresher pastries. [15] It opened 50 more UK shops than it closed last year, its first rise in several years. [15]

-13.5m pounds2024
+20m pounds2025
Costa's coffee shop business went from a loss to a profit in one year, as iced drinks and matcha sold.

Why it matters — Coca-Cola gave up trying to sell Costa in February, after bids came in too low. [15] Its boss says coffee bean prices stay high and El Nino could hit growers in Latin America. [15]
13
US food uses nearly a third of fresh water

Growing, making and selling food in the US took 29.3% of all the fresh water the country drew in 2023, the US farm department's economists found. [16] That was 27.7 trillion gallons. [16] The same food system employed 15.5% of US workers and used 10.8% of its energy. [16] Its share of water moved between 26.7% and 30.9% from 2010 to 2023. [16]

Fresh water29.3%
Workers15.5%
Energy10.8%
The US food system's share of each national total in 2023. Water is the biggest by far.

Why it matters — Of the three, water is the one food depends on most heavily, and its share changes the most from year to year. [16]
14
Curious cows give more milk

Cows that walk up to a strange object give 0.67 litres more milk a day, a study on New Zealand dairy farms found. [17] Researchers from Purdue University in the US and New Zealand groups scored 788 cows on 27 farms for curiosity, fear of people and temper at milking. [17] Cows less afraid of people gave 0.47 litres more. [17] Sensors on their ears and legs tracked grazing and lying down. [17]

Why it matters — The researchers say sensors could let farmers manage each cow by its character. [17] Farms with a water trough in every field also had higher milk yields. [17]
15
Rural voters back Maha but feel no change

A poll by the Associated Press and KFF, a health research group, asked more than 2,000 rural US voters about health. [18] About half called themselves supporters of Make America Healthy Again, or Maha, the movement that promotes healthier eating. [18] These voters care deeply about health, but 68% of them said President Trump's policies had not improved health in their communities. [18] Gas, groceries and health care were the prices that worried rural voters most. [18]

Why it matters — Rural voters helped elect Trump, and the poll comes weeks before the US midterm elections. [18] Drug prices were the one area where about 30% of voters said the Trump administration had helped. [18]

02 Lesson why it matters

Why a check that belongs to everyone ends up carried out by no one

When several agencies share a job, each can say it is another's, so the fish go uninspected and no food store gets built.

The twist

When a duty belongs to three bodies, each can point at the other two. So the duty can go unmet for decades, and nobody is ever blamed for it.

The picture

0 of 3

agencies that routinely check fish slaughter

Animal Equality UK asked three agencies in England and Wales. None of them carries out routine checks on how farmed fish are killed.

How it works

A job is shared by several agencies or governments
Each one can say the job belongs to another
Nobody is blamed for a check that never happens
So the gap stays open until a crisis shows it
Then homes, farms or animals carry the risk

The same force, elsewhere today

Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

Nobody checks how farmed fish are killed

The animal health agency sent the charity to the fish inspectors, and the inspectors and the food agency each said they do no routine checks.
England's wildfire plan never started

One British government promised the programme and the next says it was never brought into effect, so neither ran it.
15 US states sue Corteva over its spin-off

The states say the pollution bills stay with one company while the valuable seed business moves to another, so states and taxpayers may be left with the cleanup.

Where you've seen this

A crowd at an accident

each person assumes someone else has already called for help

A shared kitchen

the dishes everyone uses are the ones nobody washes

A group project at school

the part given to the whole group is the part nobody writes

The catch

It breaks when a law names one body as responsible. That is why the letter asks for food committees under Britain's emergency law, not for more advice.

And the whole of it

A family told to keep tins in the cupboard, a trout farm worker and a fire crew without the right masks all sit inside gaps like these. Each of them sees their own piece, and none of them can tell which office was meant to plan for them.

03 Truth what's really going on

What is really going on

Britain gave up its national food store in the 1990s, and its answer to this week's warning from 150 experts is a campaign telling households to keep tinned food. [1] In the same week, England's wildfire programme turned out never to have started, and no agency in England and Wales routinely checks how farmed fish are killed. [5][12]

Why it works on us — Telling each household to keep a few tins makes a national risk feel handled at home, though the letter says many poorer homes cannot afford a stock. [1]

Who gains

Vylor, Corteva's new seed company — It starts out with Corteva's seed business and, the states say, none of the PFAS pollution bills. [8]
Flavio Bolsonaro's Liberal Party — It won the most governors, senators and federal deputies counted so far, so it is expected to have the most say in Brazil's Congress. [6]
Farmers in Louisiana and Oklahoma — They can run untaxed red diesel in road vehicles while diesel is above $6 a gallon. [10][11]
Coca-Cola — Costa, the chain it failed to sell, made a 20-million-pound profit after iced drinks and matcha brought in younger buyers. [15]

Who pays

Lower-income households in Britain — The UK government's plan asks homes to keep food in, and the letter says many cannot afford to. [1]
Grain farmers in Essex — Some of their worst wheat fields yielded 25% to 40% less after the UK's hottest summer on record. [3]
Farmed fish in England and Wales — Up to 77 million fish a year in the UK are killed with no routine check on how it is done. [12]
Ohio's general fund — It puts in 725 million dollars to pay for roads and bridges that fuel taxes normally fund. [11]
Inshore halibut fishers in Greenland — They lose hooks and lines to sharks, up to 30,000 krone on a bad day, and the cull meant to help them was dropped. [14]

What nobody knows yet

Open questions from across today’s stories — ours included.

01

Whether Britain's government will build any national or local food store.

The only step announced is the Cabinet Office's household campaign, and no reply to the letter is reported. [1]
02

How much more food Britain will import after this harvest.

The crop board's figures compare this year's yields with a five-year average, and none of our sources puts a number on the extra imports. [3]
03

Who wins Brazil's runoff on 25 October.

Flavio Bolsonaro leads 47% to 45.1%, and voters from knocked-out right-wing candidates may move to him, but the vote is three weeks away. [7]
04

Whether Corteva's split keeps its seed business away from the PFAS bills.

The states' case has only just been filed in an Indiana court, and Corteva says the claims are unproven. [8]
05

When England and Wales get rules on killing farmed fish.

Britain's government promised them in December 2025 and has not published a draft law. [12]
06

Whether India's messages lead to a Black Sea grain deal.

Jaishankar described conversations that are still going on, not an agreement. [9]
07

Whether fuel-tax holidays lower what US farmers pay at harvest.

States are cutting taxes, but the high prices come from the US war with Iran and strikes on Russian refineries. [10][11]
08

Whether Greenland will try a shark cull again.

The plan was dropped over its legality, but a future cull is still possible, and the fishers have not said why the problem suddenly got worse. [14]

04 Hope carry this

Burnley, in Lancashire, will use its 222,000-pound share of new UK government money to build a community grocer, a shop between a food bank and a supermarket.

Also true today

Greenland dropped a plan to kill 1,000 Greenland sharks, a fish that can live more than 400 years, after its government questioned whether the plan was legal.
Tate & Lyle spread its corn buying across more places after France's 2022 drought, and came into this year's smallest French corn harvest in 50 years prepared.