Academic predicts rising oil prices will prompt a local food renaissance

A renaissance in local food for local communities is coming and the UK will need a huge increase in the agricultural workforce to deliver it.

Speaking at the Soil Association Conference in Cardiff, on 26 January, American author Richard Heinberg said the peak oil theory where production plateaus and prices sky rocket could force dramatic changes on UK and world farming.

Dr Heinberg, an expert on the economies of oil, suggested that the increase seen in the agricultural workforce of Cuba, which has been starved of oil by American sanctions, could act as a model for the UK.

Based on this model he estimated that in 20-30 years a 16-fold increase in the UK agricultural workforce, or between 8m–10m people would have to be involved in farming and associated industries.

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