Facilitating a more sustainable food and farming sector in the UK *

This chapter focuses on the structure of the UK dairy industry and the power relations between actors along the supply chain. It considers the environmental implications of opportunities for improving the economic sustainability of the dairy industry. The chapter reveals that changing behaviour and attitudes is very difficult, particularly in a highly political industry where individuals and institutions hold deeply entrenched views, and that triple bottom line sustainability requires very considerable change. The Framework for Change project was focused on institutional change, moving away from central government &s;top-down&s; control of the farming industry towards greater self-regulation and customer focus by the farming industry. The critical situation in milk production and consumption is typical of much of the food and farming industry in the UK. Improving economic sustainability in food and farming requires government and industry interventions sensitive to environmental trade-offs.