UK food is not expensive compared to most comparable countries, yes we have costs that some others don't have but a friend from NZ was telling me some of the rules they have to deal with too, what makes it hard for UK farming to compete is overhead costs IE land and that is the same for every business whether it's shops or manufacturers, we are a small rich country with lots of people chasing land either for farming or development, add in government/ public sector overheads like rates etc and everything we buy is expensive.
It wasn't long ago that several posters on here we saying land would be £20,000 an acre and saying farmers should leverage their assets to get bigger, how it has changed, the grain we produce is a by product to the straw and has been for many years, occasionally like last year the corn makes good money but the price has slumped, the straw we sell will be going up again this year as will the hay etc we sell, perhaps others like you are beginning to realise that food production isn't appreciated at the moment and will stop, the trouble is I fear there are many who will take up the slack, too many of us are busy idiots ( meant in a nice way) . Only when the shops are empty will things change and that might be by legislative force rather than price improvement
land is 20k per acre around here (I juts had to sell 9ac of compulsory purchase)
the value of land has nothing to do with the viability of food production whatsoever.
given inflation and its devaluing of debt buying land would have been a great move when it was being recommended on here by some. even if you borrowed money at the time, the 3-4% fixed rate would mean inflation alone was buying you the asset over the last 2 years
I REALLY fear for the livestock industry especially diary - if you start reading up on about "precision fermentation" If what I was reading is true and becomes commercial reality i just can't see dairy existing 10yrs from now ........ scary times