Over the past two years, the Covid pandemic has disrupted international supply lines for many of the goods and services that we previously took for granted and the consequence of this is an increase in inflation, which is in turn driving up the cost of living. This challenge has also now been further compounded by war in the Ukraine.

Whilst our thoughts are quite rightly with the people of the Ukraine, we must also recognise the need for the UK to become more self-sufficient in the future, and less reliant on imported goods - particularly food and energy.

In terms of food production, the Ukraine was the biggest international producer of fertiliser and the biggest exporter of wheat. As a result of the war, there has been considerable disruption to supplies, the knock-on effects of which are increases in the cost of many food stuffs in our shops, from bread to breakfast cereals and the like.

As we look to the future, the key lesson that we must draw upon is that we need to produce more of our own food. By protecting and supporting our farmers and food producers, we also protect consumers by keeping food prices in the shops lower in the long run.

Here in Suffolk, our farmers stand ready to rise to the challenge of producing more locally-grown food, but we must also look to support them better. We’ve heard from our farming leaders that they are concerned about “crippling” labour shortages, and I’d like to see the Government look at improving current immigration policies, as well as at the Skilled Workers Visa scheme, to try and help tackle this issue.

But of course, we also need to step down our reliance on an overseas workforce to plug our seasonal workforce gap. We need to develop homegrown talent – to make the sector appealing to work in, to develop a greater vocational offer and to bring forward and support our next generation of farmers and food producers.

Where appropriate, I would also like to see greater support become available, allowing our farmers to diversify and support the appropriate roll-out of solar energy, whilst at the same time recognising the need to protect our precious farmland from inappropriate housing development.

I am disappointed that Ipswich Borough Council chose to prioritise the development of the green fields of the northern fringe, rather than prioritise brownfield development in the town centre. Brownfield town centre redevelopment would also have helped to regenerate a part of the town that most needed it.

I have no doubt that the shopkeepers in the town centre would also have liked to have the additional footfall that this regeneration would potentially have delivered. Approaches such as these have worked well elsewhere, and it is time that all of our local councils put into action a brownfield-first policy.

But more than this, we need to start protecting and supporting our own food producers. We need to start listening more to our farmers and, where is practicably reasonable, better protect farming land for food production.

The war in the Ukraine has brought much into perspective - the importance of protecting freedom of speech, the importance of improving our energy security, and the importance of increasing our food security.

If we want to keep food prices in the shops down in the long run, perhaps it is time we thought not just in terms of fair-trade shopping, but of supporting local. It is only through supporting our local farmers and food producers that we will help to keep prices down for consumers and hard-pressed families.

- Dr Dan Poulter is the Conservative MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich