THE UK now imports more than half of its food, burdening poorer developing countries with the environmental costs, according to a new report.

At least two-thirds of the land required for the UK’s food and feed for animals is in foreign countries – resulting in 64 per cent of the related greenhouse gases being emitted abroad.

It is claimed the damage done by the country's agricultural requirements is being "outsourced" to areas such as South America and Southeast Asia, where the UK sources its food and feed for cattle.

Since 1986, the area of land required for British food needs has grown by 23 per cent, matched by a 15 per cent rise in harmful carbon dioxide emissions.

A farming method that can appear relatively environmentally friendly from the UK perspective is often not from a global standpoint.

Cattle can be intensively grazed in the UK for example, but the feed may have been grown on land that was formerly rainforest, causing huge ecological impacts.

Kath Dalmeny, coordinator at Sustain the alliance which campaigns for better food and farming policies, said: “It looks as if our carbon footprint from food production is going down, but a lot of it is external. It has made us complacent and we have to take responsibility.

“The biggest impact is the food we eat. It has by far the biggest footprint. If we moved our diets to a better balance with more plant-based foods we would reduce our impact massively.

“For those who can afford it, we are encouraging people to buy food grown more sustainably, such as by organic farming. Anyone who buys food could be using their money to encourage the better methods of farm production.

“There is far too much waste in the food chain - shockingly a third of food is thrown away. Things could be done to reduce food waste at all levels.”

The report, published in the Royal Society journal by academics from universities including Aberdeen, recognised the difficulty in effectively producing food for a growing global population sustainably, and called it one of the 21st century’s “major challenges”.

It said: “The UK is currently importing over 50 per cent of its food and feed, whereas 70 per cent and 64 per cent of the associated crop land and greenhouse gas impacts, respectively, are located abroad.

"These results imply that the UK is increasingly reliant on external resources and that the environmental impact of its food supply is increasingly displaced overseas."

Despite this import trend saddling developing countries with environmental damage, the report noted it facilitated economic development through international trade and by providing jobs.

Professor Tim Benton, the UK champion for global food security and an expert in sustainable farming, said the issue concerned the production of food rather than the transport by air, ship or road to the UK.

“There is absolutely an issue of off-shoring the impacts of importing our food. The air miles of transporting a pack of butter from New Zealand say, are almost irrelevant. But the production side can have a huge footprint.

“A single green bean grown in Kenya, a drought-prone country, requires a gallon of water to be produced, so if someone throws away a pack that has gone slimy at the bottom of the fridge they are effectively throwing away a bathtub full of water from that country.”