We can’t take abundant food supplies for granted, he warned. Factors like soaring global demand for meat (produced from grain-fed livestock), the impact of climate change and the use of land for biofuel crops could cause global shortages.

Admittedly he didn’t say anything about pandemics — or, at least, not those of human diseases (he mentioned a number of animal diseases).

But the point is that even if other countries are capable of producing enough food to supply our needs as well as theirs, we can’t just assume uninterrupted global free trade to get that food here.

If — or, rather, when — serious disruption occurs, you can be sure that food-producing nations will see to their own needs first, followed by those of their immediate neighbours.

Do we really want to be at the back of the queue for food?

What, by the way, did David Cameron do about all of this as Prime Minister? In his NFU speech he said that UK self sufficiency in food had declined from 72% in 1996 to 60% in 2008. By the time he left office, we were still importing about two-fifths of what we consume.

You spin that as making no difference or as halting the decline. Either way, there’s no doubting the significance of what we still produce.

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Peter Franklin is Associate Editor of UnHerd. He was previously a policy advisor and speechwriter on environmental and social issues.

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