Alan Titchmarsh blasts Britain's addiction to cheap food imports

Alan Titchmarsh has hit out at cheap food imports - saying that if we fail to pay decent prices to farmers, then nothing will be grown in Britain in 50 years' time.

The former Gardeners' World presenter also said allocating good agricultural land to solar panels was counter-productive, because energy is then wasted transporting food from abroad to make up for the lost home produce.

Speaking on the Rosebud with Gyles Brandreth podcast, he said: 'When we were little, in the 1950s, 30% of the household income was spent on food.

'Nowadays it's between eight and 12 per cent on food - we spend more on leisure and recreation than we do on our food.

'As a result of which we won't pay more for food because it's cheap in the supermarkets, therefore why should we pay more when we get it for that - as a result of which we're getting more and more cheap imports.'

Titchmarsh, 75, continued: 'Our good soil, in the British Isles, is being turned over to solar panels, when it could grow good food - to solar panels to save energy which will allow foreign food to be brought over, using the energy that we've saved.

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'It's bonkers. And it's bad land management.'

He also told listeners: 'I've gone on a rant. But we desperately need to change our landscape to pay our farmers a fair price for their food, and to buy locally - otherwise I predict within 50 years there will be no food grown in Britain.'

His comments come against the backdrop of new Energy Security Secretary Ed Miliband's plans to quadruple solar power generation capacity, which he says will 'make the UK a clean energy superpower'.

Titchmarsh's view was backed by Hugh Williams, of Somerset Campaign to Protect Rural England, who said: 'We're losing so much of our farmland. Once it has gone the damage is done.'