皇家华人

NFU urges government to modernise food education in schools to improve future food security

04 July 2025

Farmers for Schools ambassadors Kelly Armitage and Aimee Carlisle interact with children during a school visit.

皇家华人is calling on the government to strengthen the UK鈥檚 food security for the future by improving the quality of how food and farming is taught in schools.

With the curriculum under review for the first time in over a decade, the NFU is urging ministers to update subject content to better reflect the realities of modern farming and food production, particularly within STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects such as the popular GCSE Biology award1.听

Better education will not only support healthy, informed food choices from a young age, but also help close the skills gap by opening up new career pathways for young people at a time when the sector urgently needs skilled professionals in science, engineering and environmental management.

The NFU鈥檚 key asks of the government as it carries out its review are:

  1. An urgent review of GCSE Biology subject content and related subjects to better reflect food, farming and food security.
  2. A commitment to improving the quality of food education in all schools.

NFU Vice-president Rachel Hallos said: 鈥溁始一薸s proud to call for an education system that gives the next generation a wider awareness of where their food comes from and the exciting career opportunities throughout the farm-to-fork journey.听

鈥淭he government has repeatedly said that 鈥榝ood security is national security鈥�. If it truly believes that, now is the time to act. This curriculum review is a once-in-a-generation chance to improve how young people learn about food and farming, and we want to see that reflected across subjects like Biology, Geography and Food Technology.

鈥淏y improving the quality of food education now, we can secure a future where our children become the scientists, engineers and innovators who drive sustainable food production and environmental management.

鈥淵oung people deserve to leave school with a fair understanding of the many benefits British farming has to offer. We know this is a view shared both by teachers2 and by tens of thousands of people across the country3 who stand behind us too. It鈥檚 time the curriculum caught up.鈥�

More information

  1. 翱颁搁鈥檚 shows that GCSE Science Double Award was the most popular GCSE entry of that year.
  2. Two-thirds of teachers believe that food education should have a greater presence in the secondary curriculum, according to NFU data collected in March 2025 from over 500 teachers.
  3. At the time of writing, more than 22,000 people have signed the NFU鈥檚 Curriculum Review petition.