Crucial action has now been taken by government to restart production at fertiliser factories to create a much-needed supply of carbon dioxide (CO2). The decision demonstrates the value of UK food production amid CO2 shortages which impacted the supply chain significantly.
The news follows an emergency summit of representatives from the UK’s food supply chain, were they called for urgent action from government to reinstate vital food grade carbon dioxide supplies by bringing UK fertiliser plants back on stream.
Ulster Farmers’ Union president Victor Chestnutt said, “It’s very positive news that government has taken our calls on board and have agreed to pay out to restart production at fertiliser factories that would create essential CO2 supplies as a by-product. The government is set to meet the full operating costs to operate CF Industries' Teesside plant for three weeks to enable the CO2 market to adapt to global prices, having been stalled due to surging gas prices. The sudden lack of CO2 came completely out of the blue and the situation quickly became critical highlighting how important the supply is to our agri-food sector. The UFU will be closely monitoring the situation going forward and hopes that the problem will not arise again.”
Carbon dioxide supplies are of critical importance in the food industry, which includes:
- Protecting animal welfare in processing
- Avoiding knock on impacts on farm
- Maintaining production of glasshouse fruit and vegetables to avoid mothballing production
“The CO2 crisis that has unravelled over the last couple of days, has shown the vulnerability within our supply chain and how easily everything could grind to a halt resulting in food shortages across the country. The businesses and workers within the food supply chain kept their shoulder to the wheel, doing all they could to manage the dire situation at hand and ensuing food availability for consumers, but government cannot dismiss how fragile the situation became overnight.
“In Northern Ireland the pig sector in particular, is already under extreme pressure with labour shortages and any CO2 shortage on the top of an already pressurised situation would be disastrous considering the current backlog of pigs on farms. We raised the issue of labour availability with the Home Secretary in Westminster last week at Back British Farming Day, as well as the need for government to put policies in place that strengthen our food production ability. The UK is currently 60 percent self-sufficient in food and considering the danger zone we have been bordering on recently, our food production needs to be increased and strengthened to prevent food shortages and breakdowns within the supply chain.
“We must all learn from this situation and moving forward, I want to work with government and the whole supply chain to help boost UK food production and protect our food security,” said Mr Chestnutt.
The industry bodies who took part in the emergency summit alongside the UFU include:
- APS Group
- Association of Independent Crop Consultants
- Association of Independent Meat Suppliers
- Avara
- Billingtons
- British Egg Industry Council
- British Meat Processors Association
- British Poultry Council
- British Veterinary Association
- Food and Drink Federation
- Hook 2 Sisters Food Group
- Kelly’s Turkeys
- Kepak
- Maelor
- M&S
- Morrisons
- Moy Park
- Muller
- National Pig Association
- NFU Cymru
- NFU Scotland
- Noble Foods
- Northern Ireland Meat Exporters Association
- Pilgrims
- Provision Trade Federation
- Sainsburys
- Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers
- Sodexo
- Tesco
- Thanet Earth
- Traditional Norfolk Poultry
- National Farmers’ Union
- Waitrose
