U.K. to Probe Extent of Country’s Food Supply-Chain Woes
This extract from Blomberg gives a flavour of how a key rural story is being reported in the US. Sometimes its interesting to look through a different organisation’s eyes to get a challenging or re-affirming perspective. This article gives us a useful flavour of the agenda for the upcoming food inquiry it tells us:
The U.K. government is starting an investigation into just how badly labor shortages, Brexit and surging commodity prices are hurting the country’s food industry.
A lack of key workers such as truck drivers is pushing businesses toward losses and causing knock-on issues for consumers, said Neil Parish, chair of the Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. In a letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel, he highlighted livestock stuck on farms due to meat-processing bottlenecks and lower chicken production closing some food outlets.
The committee set an initial Oct. 8 deadline for its inquiry and is seeking insight into issues including:
The outlook for labor shortages in the coming months and years.
What impact a timetable for physical checks at the border on food and live animal imports from the EU will have on current supply-chain problems.
Whether the government needs to take more action to support the food supply chain.