HUGH RAVEN

Two thousand and eight has been a big year. Behind the global gloom of financial collapse and euphoria at historic change in US leadership, it's seen the rise of another issue - possibly bigger than either, but neglected here for decades. Not since rationing ended in the 1950s has the question been asked: is a wealthy country with an equable climate confident it can feed its people?

Food must be available, affordable and accessible to be secure. Don't take it for granted. Our governments don't. They recognise now a threat that until recently was officially dismissed as fanciful. The fuel strikes of 2000 brought us within days of the shelves being bare.

The prime minister's office and Defra - the department overseeing food - have published calls for action. The Scottish Government has done better, adding food security to its continuing work on food policy.

Recent global changes certainly demand attention. Unlike previous cycles, current increases in world food prices aren't short-term spikes - caused by isolated crop failures, weather, or war. They're deeper seated, driven by trends not events, and are probably here to stay.

Population growth adds a UK-sized cohort to the global total each year. Energy prices play their part, as farm chemicals are heavily based on fossil fuels. The muddle-headed diversion of grains to biofuels reduces food availability, and water shortages and soil erosion further dent supply.

The UN body responsible estimates that global food production needs to rise by 50% by 2030, and double by 2050, to feed a rising population.

Don't be depressed. We can do it.

First, we need more people in farming. It's an inverted virility symbol to boast how big your farm is and how small your workforce: we're good at it. The league table of farm employment shows the UK almost bottom: at around 1.4% of workers, we're below the US and all EU countries except Luxembourg.

Productive farming requires attention to detail. That needs people. We must again make farming an attractive career. The minimum wage has increased farm pay, which helps. Scottish Government plans for a scheme to help young folk into farming are welcome - though yet to be tested. In Jimmy Doherty and Alex James we have a first wave - or ripple - of celebrity farmers joining celebrity chefs, among whom Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver are as interested in growing as in cooking.

We need better agricultural research, new skills to rehabilitate degraded land and better crop varieties. But the cultural issues need as much attention as the scientific - particularly the question of whether farming is fit for an ambitious young.

Secondly, we must tackle climate change. Don't underestimate the importance of farming: there is more carbon in soil and vegetation than in the atmosphere. Among the world's leading climate modellers is Aberdeen University Professor Peter Smith, who calculates that a release of only 1% of Scotland's soil-borne carbon annually would more than double our greenhouse gas emissions.

We're not doing very well as things stand: a report to the government in May attributed 25% of Scotland's total emissions to farming. Our governments, to their credit, lead the world by legislating for an 80% emissions cut by 2050. To meet that target, while producing substantially more food indefinitely into the future, we need big changes.

We can do that too. The most important GHG from Scottish agriculture by far is nitrous oxide, from nitrogen use. We can cut that easily through relinquishing artificial nitrogen - by reintegrating our livestock and arable farming, and getting fertility fixed naturally by energy from the sun, by using clover.

We should put more carbon back where it does good, not harm - in the soil, using compost and more rotational farming. And better use of farm waste should provide energy, through bio-gas and anaerobic digestion.

We can limit what all this costs. Consumers have responded swiftly to high food prices, using food co-ops, the discounters and growing at least a bit of it themselves. Vegetable seeds outsold flower seeds last year, and waiting lists for allotments are at an all-time high.

We must insist that farmland is mainly for growing food - reducing farmland losses to housing and roads, and exploding the liquid biofuel myth, in which crops grown to reduce emissions often have the opposite effect.

The Soil Association is doing its bit. Few things matter more than an adequate diet, which is why we were founded by a Scottish farmer 60 years ago. In the new year we're holding public meetings across Scotland, to find out how we can support communities working toward food security.

If this matters to you as much as it should, please contact us to find out where we'll meet you.