Diet hurts farm markets

Press, 2 April 1985, Page 12

Diet hurts farm markets

NZPA staff corresponent London A move away from highfat diets could catch British farmers unawares if they do not react fast to market demands, according to a new report in Britain. It says Britain “probably tops the league for the dubious achievement of people dying from heart diseases” and warns that British farming might not be flexible enough to adapt

to likely declines in consumer demand for dairy and meat products. The report, written by the Food Policy Research Unit at the University of Bradford, says: “Farmers cannot change their products overnight but if they do not act fast, supermarkets — the new' and most powerful force in the market — will turn elsehere for their supplies and British agriculture will follow our other great

industries into decline. The report notes trends in the United States where the rate of cardiovascula disease was the. highest in the world. In only a few years the rate dropped about a third to a position well down on the table of : heart disease death causes. “People right across the social spectrum changed their diet,” said the research unit’s director, Dr Verner Wheelock.