NHS, schools, government and other services should use UK ingredients for food wherever possible, according to proposals

Food procured for Britain’s public sector after Brexit should be sourced from the UK wherever possible, the biggest farming organisation has said.

Promised sweeping reforms of food and farming have been cast by ministers as a flagship policy that will unlock some of the biggest potential benefits from Brexit. But farmers fear they will lose the £3bn-a-year taxpayer subsidy they enjoy under EU rules and be hamstrung by subsidised competition from Europe.

For a consultation on the potential reforms that closes on Tuesday, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) is submitting proposals that suggest the NHS, schools, the government and other publicly run services that use government buying standards should be “wherever possible, sourcing British assured ingredients”, except for products not grown in the UK.

If followed through, this would ensure a market of tens of billions of pounds a year to British farming and food production and secure millions of jobs. It would also provide a guaranteed market amid uncertainty for British farmers and food processors on the future export tariff regime.

Such proposals have been rejected by Whitehall in the past as being incompatible with EU rules that require member states to treat each other equally in public procurement. However, other EU countries manage to interpret the regulations in their favour: France announced plans this year to require the public sector to buy food that was organic and locally produced.

Minette Batters, president of the NFU, said: “I want British farmers and growers to remain the number one supplier of choice to the UK market, and I want British people to be able to enjoy more sustainable, quality, affordable British food at a range of prices that suit all incomes. A future farm policy could uplift British farming’s ability to produce food for the nation … and enhance our reputation for high-welfare food which delivers for the environment.”

Under the banner Health and Harmony, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is consulting with farmers, food producers, landowners, countryside campaigners and environmental groups in an attempt to redraw the relationship between the countryside and urban Britain, and the future of taxpayer support for farming.

Michael Gove, the environment secretary, has said repeatedly he wants any taxpayer support for farmers to be dependent on them providing “public goods”, such as protections for wildlife, and maintaining the countryside. The NFU also said farmers could provide public goods, for instance under schemes to value the “ecosystems services”, such as water storage and flood prevention, that farmers can provide through better management of their land.

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The NFU also called for the government to be flexible on the transition period of Brexit, saying it was not sensible “to impose an arbitrary timeframe on the length of transition required”, and called for easier ways for seasonal labourers from overseas to be employed in the UK after Brexit, an issue that is already causing problems for some.

Other campaigners are concerned that the government will retreat from existing EU protections while failing to address more wide-ranging problems, such as concerns that intensive farming may become more attractive after Brexit if cash-strapped farmers are beset by low-cost, subsidised and lower-quality competition and unable to recruit cheap workers from eastern Europe.

Peter Melchett, policy director of the Soil Association, said the “rare opportunity to ensure we’re farming in ways that benefit human health” had been missed. He stressed in particular the threat of resistance to antibiotics, which can spread from the overuse of the drugs on livestock, and the dietary ill-health that is costing the NHS billions because of overprocessed food.

He said: “It is frustrating that the Health and Harmony consultation has frankly bugger all to say about human health. No clear actions are proposed. The need to reduce farm antibiotic use gets a mention, as does the possibility that access to green spaces might benefit our wellbeing, but there is so much more to it than this. Britain has the most ultra-processed diet in Europe and fruit and vegetables could become less affordable post-Brexit.”