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  Farm subsidies need to be phased out to create a more level playing field across the globe, perhaps replacing them with farm income support as they have done in the USA would be a good start - farmers there are guaranteed a minimum wage provided they output produce with federal funds meeting any shortfall.
  
  The major issues for many if not most independent farmers in the UK and therefore for UK food security are:
  
  - quotas on certain produce leading to either fines for over production or the excess being thrown away (this forces prices up not down)
  
  - supermarket chains pushing farm gate prices down due to their buying power (this maximises supermarket profits and forces farm incomes down) I have friends who have found that their loss was less ploughing their crop back in rather than harvesting it and selling it at the price the supermarkets were prepared to pay
  
  - supermarkets importing seasonal produce from all over the world thus undermining the traditional seasonal local produce (impacting farm incomes and encouraging farmers to "set aside" land as they will get more money doing so, which again results in scarcity of produce and prices going up)
  
  - supermarkets and wholesalers importing produce cheaper than local farmers can produce it (just look at the demise of the UK hop growers, or even the huge drop in acreage in Kent used for apple orchards)
  
  - historically planning departments encouraging the use of good quality farm land for housing etc. This may rear its ugly head again in the future with the loosening of planning laws. Grade 1 agricultural land for agricultural use sells at between £5&10,000 per acre, development land sells from £25,000 per acre without planning all the way up £150-200,000 per acre with detailed planning - now if you are a struggling farmer what would you do?

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