More than nine in ten industry leaders and academics say risk to the UK food system has increased over the past 12 months, according to IGD’s first-ever resilience survey, published as part of its third annual resilience report, ‘Thriving in a volatile world’.
The survey identifies the risks expected to have the greatest impact on UK food system resilience over the next five years. Geopolitics was ranked as the highest risk, followed by climate change, water and agriculture, while 100% of respondents said they do not believe government policy has strengthened food resilience over the past year.
The findings underline the scale and complexity of the challenge facing the UK food system, as businesses navigate a volatile operating environment shaped by global conflict, climate disruption, cost pressures and more fragile supply chains. The resulting ranking is designed to help food businesses focus attention on the risks most likely to affect their ability to maintain supply, manage costs and continue serving consumers in a volatile environment.
The IGD resilience survey ranks the risks in the following order:
- Geopolitics
- Climate change
- Water
- Agriculture
- The economics of the food system
- Labour and skills
- Animal disease
- Cyber-security
- Biodiversity loss
- Opaque supply chain
While geopolitics received the highest risk score, IGD argues that climate change is likely to pose the greatest long-term risk to the UK food system because of the way it compounds other pressures, including water scarcity, agricultural volatility, biodiversity loss and supply chain disruption.
Kathryn Reynolds, Senior Manager Resilience at IGD, said: “This year’s report shows that the risks facing the food system are intensifying; building resilience has become a shared priority across all sectors in the food system and at a fast rate.
"For food businesses, reacting to disruption is no longer enough. Organisations must anticipate change, invest in capability and build supply chains that can withstand shocks, adapt quickly and thrive in a rapidly changing world.”
More detail on each of the risks, what they mean for the UK food system and how businesses can navigate, can be found in IGD’s free resilience report, ‘Thriving in a volatile world’.