Britain has always been a proud country, built on a shared faith in our national institutions and our ability to look after our own. That instinct sits behind the NHS, our Armed Forces, our Church and the Monarchy.

As our population has grown, another pillar of national resilience has come into sharper focus: the strength of our farmers and agricultural industry.

Food security is not an abstract concept. It means having the capacity to feed ourselves and supply chains strong enough to withstand international shocks. Twenty years ago, concerns about food security largely focused on environmental risks such as climate change and disease.

In the 2020s, geopolitics has become the greater threat. We all remember the empty supermarket shelves during the pandemic, followed by soaring food prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Now the National Farmers’ Union warns that tensions involving Iran could place further strain on global food supply chains.

The issue is more complex than simply where food is grown. Despite the range of countries listed on supermarket labels, the United Kingdom retains significant domestic resilience.

Britain produces around 60 percent of the food we consume. We are fully self-sufficient in products such as lamb, poultry, milk, carrots and swedes. Production meets 91 percent of egg demand and 86 percent of beef demand.

Across Farnham, Bordon, Haslemere, Liphook and our villages there are 96 farming businesses, many of them family-run. Many of us see the results of their work every day, whether visiting farm shops such as Luff’s, Meadow Cottage, Kilnside or Pierrepont, or enjoying food in local pubs and restaurants that source from nearby farms.

Yet the pressures on agriculture are becoming increasingly clear.

Labour’s approach to rural communities and farming is deeply concerning. The proposed tax changes affecting family farms show a serious failure to understand agricultural businesses and the importance of long-term food security. You cannot strengthen food security while weakening the people who produce the food.

Ministers must start listening to farmers, both locally and across the country. When farmers asked to discuss these new taxes last year, the Government refused. Shutting the door on farmers does not make the problem disappear.

That is why the growing international pressure linked to Iran is worrying. Not because Britain cannot produce its own food, but because the NFU warns that fuel and pesticide prices could rise sharply.

This will push up the cost of imported food in the short term. More importantly, it could increase the cost of food grown in British greenhouses by around 15 percent within six weeks. Further rises may follow in the autumn as higher input costs are passed on to consumers.

The Government needs to get a grip on this quickly. Food security should never be an afterthought. If ministers get this wrong, Britain will pay the price at the checkout.

Otherwise we risk entering the winter of 2026–27 with a food supply chain under real pressure from rising costs at key stages of production.

And if that happens, it will not be an issue Labour can simply close the door on.