We don't know how much food we produce
DEFA published a Food Security Plan in 2024 but it measures everything in relative terms (10% more local food, 15% more storage) against baseline numbers that it admits it doesn't have yet. Several of the targets begin with the word "baseline" rather than a value. The three biggest questions for me are: how much of our own food do we actually produce, how much do we have to hand if the boats stop, and how resilient are our arable crops to the effects of climate change? I'll push for a genuine self-sufficiency figure and a days-of-supply figure, published every year, so residents can see whether we have more food security, or less.
Being honest about our land
DEFA's Agricultural and Horticultural Census data for 2015-2025 shows around 92% of our farmland is grass and rough grazing for livestock; less than 1 acre in 40 grows vegetables or potatoes for people to eat directly. That reflects our climate, soils, and the markets farmers sell into. If we're serious about increasing our self-sufficiency, we have to be honest about what our land currently produces, and work with farmers on what changing the use of that land to improve Food Security would look like for their businesses.
Our seas are half the picture
Food security is not only about land, and the sea is where our ambitions are the thinnest. I'd want to know what propertion of the catch landed from our waters is processed and eaten here, and what those waters could sustainably yield, and whether we have the processing capacity to handle it.
Biodiversity targets that mean something
The Government's first Biodiversity Strategy ran 2015-2025 with dozens of targets. I will push for a successor strategy containing not just targets that consist of reviews of strategies and policies, but actual measurable improvements to the Island's biodiversity. Our planning system should implement firm Biodiversity Net Gain targets and we should be encouraging living buildings and creating green spaces for brownfield sites determined not to be suitable for housing.