The report warns that current trends in food production predict that 47% of Britain's food will be imported by the year 2040. This figure currently stands at 40%, which itself follows a 30 year upward spiral. The NFU says action is needed now, and from successive governments, to reverse this negative trend which has serious implications for the British economy, food security and employment.

The population in the UK is expected to boom over the coming decades. By 2040, the year the country is predicted to produce just 53% of food from home farms, there will be around 13 million extra mouths in the UK to feed.

According to new YouGov figures, the British public is overwhelmingly in support of buying home produced food, with 85% of the population wishing to see supermarkets selling more food from British farms – an increase from 79% in 2014.

Meurig Raymond, NFU President said that today's report "highlights the causes of the decline in self-sufficiency, including shifting and conflicting direction on European and UK farm policy, a legacy of underinvestment in publicly funded research and development, poorly crafted regulation, and weak bargaining power within the food chain.

“The stark choice for the next government is whether to trust the nation’s food security to volatile world markets or to Back British Farming and reverse the worrying trend in food production," he continued.

"I know what I want to happen. I want to see a robust plan for increasing the productive potential of farming, stimulating investment and ensuring that the drive to increase British food production is at the heart of every government department.”

The NFU's report highlights ten main areas the organisation would like the British government to focus on to reverse this trend, which include the government engaging and championing farming in EU policy-making, implementing all elements of the 25 year TB Eradication Strategy, providing fiscal incentives that enable farm businesses to manage volatility and promote capital investment, and accelerated rollout of high-speed broadband to all rural areas.

NFU Deputy President Minette Batters said, “The important thing to remember about self-sufficiency is that it is a yardstick for measuring how competitive we are and how much we produce. It doesn’t mean limiting or reducing export; it means capitalising on what we are already good at and being able to provide Great British Food to shoppers and food procurers throughout Britain."