What are the real reasons the cost of our food is rising?

You’ve very likely seen an increase in the amount you’re paying for your food in recent times. Everything from meat, dairy and even vegetables has gone up in price considerably in the last few years. But why is this? What is really happening in the food system that is causing us all to be having to pay more for our food?

Our food plays a crucial role in all our lives. It’s not only a basic human need, but it also provides us with enjoyment, satisfaction and opportunities for social bonding. There are few greater pleasures than enjoying a delicious meal with family and friends.

Throughout most of human history, finding enough food to eat occupied much of our ancestor’s time and energy, from ancient hunter gatherers and later subsistence farmers, whose main concerns were to find enough food for themselves and their families to survive. Up until comparatively recently, most people were responsible for growing their own food and keeping their own animals, keeping them in touch with the land and understanding the delicate and precarious nature of food production. If harvests were poor or animals fell to disease, it could be the difference between being able to feed yourself and your family or starvation! Indeed, this insecurity continues to dominate many people’s daily lives in some parts of the world.

We are fortunate in the UK to live in a country where food availability has become less of a daily concern, with food production now largely down to larger scale farming operations who have over time become increasingly productive and adept at providing us with enough food to eat.

On top of this, modern supply chains are now incredibly sophisticated, with food appearing on supermarket shelves in abundance. All we have to do is fill up the trolley and pay for it at the checkout, meaning that the time we spend providing food for ourselves and our families is lower than it has ever been in history.

But we may be heading into more challenging times in the UK when it comes to food security. The price of our food has risen substantially in the last few years and this is a trend that is likely to continue.

Take the price of beef for example. The UK loves beef, with around 300 million KG of beef being consumed each year in the UK. But the price of beef is rising, fast! Prices have risen 30% in the last 6 months (as of March 2025) and the forecasts are that it will continue to rise even further in the months and years ahead. Beef is likely to become an increasing luxury food for many people and not the staple food it has been for many decades in the UK.

But what is driving these increases, not just in beef but as well as other foods we are seeing become increasingly expensive?

A good friend of mine, Sam Webster is a beef farmer near Ripon, not far from Yorkshire Handmade Pies. I asked him why we are seeing such volatility in the food market at present and for his thoughts on what we can expect in the years to come.

He told me that one of the biggest issues in farming is that prices have been kept artificially low over many years. This downward pressure on prices is causing many farmers to stop producing as much food, either having to become smaller and leaner to be able to make a profit, or in many cases exiting the market altogether.

What’s more, when farmers stop producing or produce less, production cannot be easily replaced or scaled back up. The cycle time to produce a fully grown beef animal is around 3 years, so any increase in supply wouldn’t be seen for another 3 years at least, meaning low cattle numbers will continue to drive prices North.

In short, we’ve underpaid for beef for many years, and we’re now paying the price, literally! Sam doesn’t believe that prices are now expensive, but rather reflective of where they should have been for many years. Sam expressed frustration that many people think nothing of paying £4 plus for a coffee but want items like meat and dairy to be as cheap as possible when they go shopping. He feels we have gradually started to undervalue these foods, which have become increasingly commoditised over the years.

Adding further fuel to the fire is decreasing government subsidies, which Sam says for him are now just 3% of where they were previously. This means farmers are having to recover more cost, putting further pressure on prices.

As if this were not enough, many subsidies are now incentivising farmers to prioritise environmental projects rather than food production, with schemes such as solar farms, tree planting and expanding hedgerows now being prioritised over growing food. Much of this is driven by the UK’s drive for net zero, but as Sam points out, ‘We are still going to have to find food from somewhere, particularly with an ever growing population. If we don’t produce enough food domestically, we will end up being increasingly reliant on imported food, which will be expensive and produced to poorer standards in many cases. And surely the carbon emissions that will be created by having to import more of our food also have to be thought about in the debate’ 

Farming is not an industry that can be easily replaced or scaled up. Once production is lost, it is very difficult to be recovered. As Sam points out, ‘We are not a rubber duck factory, we cannot simply turn on food production overnight.’ We are at a critical point in the UK’s food supply, and we need to be increasingly prepared to pay more for our food, helping farmers to achieve a fair price and to guarantee our food security in the UK.

At Yorkshire Handmade Pies, we wholeheartedly support UK farming and will only ever use quality British beef in our pies from farmers like Sam. We will also always pay a fair price for the best produce, which in turn means we can provide you with the best pies available anywhere.

Farmers like Sam are the backbone of the UK’s ability to produce great food and we will always support them. We will never switch to cheaper imported beef or reduce the meat content in our pies. Rest assured that when you buy from us, you are supporting UK food production and our hardworking farmers. The UK needs farmers more than ever if we are to continue to enjoy delicious homegrown food.