Cameron warns of global food crunch

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With increasing competition for farm produce from the growing economies of China and India, the growing market for biofuels to provide "green" energy and the threat of global warming, the Tory leader will say that the era of abundant food supplies may be drawing to an end.

He will tell the centenary conference of the National Farmers Union in London that some analysts believe Britain must now treat food security as seriously as energy security and even national security.

Mr Cameron will call for the elimination of production subsidies for farmers across Europe and the creation of a level playing-field in agricultural regulations to give British farmers a better chance to compete.

And he will say that British farmers must "reconnect with their customers" by wooing them away from the supermarkets with organic box delivery schemes, farmers' markets and local shops.

"These three things, I believe, will help us face down the ever-growing threat to our food security," he will say.

Meanwhile, NFU president Peter Kendall will argue that Britain has a "moral duty" to the rest of the world to step up its production of food and biofuels.

As a country less vulnerable than other parts of the world to global warming and water shortages, the UK can make up for the shortfalls likely to develop as land is lost to drought and desertification, he will say.

Mr Cameron will tell the conference that the UK's self-sufficiency in food has fallen from 72% in 1996 to 60% today.

Chinese consumers are now eating 50kg of meat a year, compared to 20kg 20 years ago, encouraging farmers to switch from grain to livestock and causing a crunch in global grain stocks, he will say.