SME4Labour at Labour Party Conference

Monday 28 September 2026 · ACC Liverpool

Guaranteed-price contracts and statutory targets could help secure Britain's food supply

Speakers at a full-house SME4Labour fringe said food security cannot be delivered through slogans, warning of tired farms and a fragile supply chain.

Farmers should be offered guaranteed-price contracts modelled on those used in energy, an MP has told a packed fringe at Labour's conference, as speakers warned that food security cannot be delivered through slogans.

The session, Britain's Food Security: From Farm to Fork in an Uncertain World, was held by SME4Labour on Monday 28 September. It was chaired by Daniel Zeichner MP, Labour MP for Cambridge and a former farming minister.

The panel brought together:

• Chris Hinchliff MP, Labour MP for North East Hertfordshire
• Terry Jermy MP, Labour MP for South West Norfolk
• Dave Robertson MP, Labour MP for Lichfield
• Ali Capper, fruit grower
• James Bielby, Chief Executive of the Federation of Wholesale Distributors
• Sue Pritchard, Chief Executive of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission

Beyond the slogans

Capper said the tone from government feels right, but she worried that when the Treasury talks about food security it means cheaper imports. Britain should be proud of the food it produces, she said, but cannot compete on labour costs alone. Manual labour, she noted, makes up about 40 per cent of the cost of an apple. She called the horticulture plan a positive step that now needs to be delivered, and said wildfires taking crops this summer were a worry. Growers, she added, need financial incentives to grow feed. The next ten years, she said, are the period in which food security has to be delivered.

An industry running on empty

Jermy said he has visited 100 of the around 500 farms in his area since the general election. He described old machinery and farmers who want to invest in solar panels or reservoirs but lack the financial resilience to do so. Farming, he said, is a tired and emotionally drained industry.

Contracts and targets

Hinchliff said the fragility of Britain's food security cannot be overstated, and reliance on imports is no longer tenable. He called for greater focus on nutritional food security, noting that only two of the seven key food groups needed for a healthy diet are covered. The food system, he argued, has been used to make up for failures elsewhere. Low food prices have masked high housing and transport costs, leaving farmers unprofitable while people still rely on food banks.

He proposed contracts for food security modelled on contracts for difference in energy, giving farmers the security of guaranteed prices. He also called for national statutory targets to drive policy forward.

Resilience without legislation

Bielby said gene editing is one way to meet the challenges facing the food industry, and called for an industry resilience forum. Pritchard said new legislative frameworks may not be necessary. Government is poor at joining up its own policies, she said, but local leadership has transformed what is on the public plate, including in schools. Shining a light on that, she argued, could achieve a great deal.

The session also heard that food and drink businesses are not on the list for emergency services in the event of a fuel shortage. For growers, the next test is whether the horticulture plan is delivered.