OVER the next 50 years there are expected to be up to three billion more mouths to feed as the population explodes.

Yet climate change and rocketing food prices mean there may not be enough to go around.

While current supply in the UK is good, the government has launched an intensive consultation process to safeguard the situation in the future.

Producers, supermarkets and consumers are all being encouraged to submit their views on how a secure food system should look in 2030, with some of the findings being published in the autumn.

It’s a move welcomed by the National Farmers’ Union. Ian Johnson, South West spokesman, said the organisation had long been campaigning for such an initiative.

“Climate change is a fact of life,” he said.“It’s there and we have to deal with it.

“But here that means quite considerable investment in driers for the farms with all the wet weather that we’ve had.

“What we’ve also tried to do is to get Defra to focus on the importance of productive farming.” He added that for the process to work, Defra must involve farmers and growers in formulating policy.

George Hosford, who has a mixed farm in Durweston, near Blandford, said: “Climate change and population growth are the two main issues.

“We are told that the population of the world is going to increase by some staggering figure to something like nine billion by 2050. How the hell are we going to feed them?”

George said another threat to food production was the building of roads and houses on arable land, as well as new European rulings meaning that many products essential in farming were being taken off the market – a move which had resulted in a disastrous bean crop for him this year.

He said something must be looked at in a bid to avert disaster.

“Should we be looking at GM foods maybe?” he asked.

“It’s no good just throwing our arms up in the air and saying ‘Never, never, never’. I’m not a fan of GM, but I think we need to look at it from a scientific viewpoint. It may be one way forward.”

Sue Bristow, support services manager at Poole Citizen’s Advice Bureau, is also hoping there is a way forward.

“The bureau is already dealing with increasing numbers of people who are having financial difficulties,” she said.

“Benefit rates at the moment already don’t cover an adequate amount of money for people to have good diets. So if food becomes rarer and more costly, it’s going to cause even more problems for people.”

Defra’s initiative has been welcomed by consumers and producers alike, but is it too little too late?

Friends of the Earth’s senior food campaigner Clare Oxborrow said the government had “failed to introduce decisive policies to tackle the food industry’s global environmental impacts and to secure sustainable and fair food supplies”.

She said the best solution was to switch to small-scale, local farming and home-grown foods, adding: “We should support farmers in the UK to produce planet-friendly food that will boost the economy, cut carbon emissions and improve food security.

“And the government must introduce a supermarket watchdog to ensure a fair deal for British farmers and shoppers alike.”

Clare said genetic modification was not the answer as it did not necessarily produce higher yields, but George Hosford insisted it should be looked at.

He added: “They need to speak to people involved in food production, and not just listen to the protesters who are against GM foods.

“It’s all very well listening to them and banning fertilisers and things, but if we are going to grow food for everybody in the world then we need to look at it and decide what our priorities are.

“I welcome this consultation very keenly and I hope it creates a full and frank discussion.”