Can cheap food be produced sustainably? - The Guardian (blog)

A new Defra report says agriculture needs to change if food prices are to be kept low and the environment preserved. But how? Leo Hickman, with your help, investigates. Post your views below, email leo.hickman@guardian.co.uk or tweet @LeoHickman
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Farmland near Wharton Fell, near Kirkby Stephen, in the upper Eden Valley, Cumbria. Photograph: FLPA/Alamy
10.10am: Jim Paice, the farming minister, has today launched a new report called The Green Food Project. It was commissioned by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and investigates "how Britain's entire food system must change to keep food affordable without destroying nature, at a time of soaring world population growth".

A diverse range of voices and organisations - from farming groups and food retailers through to environmental charities and academics - contributed to the report. It stresses that it views its role as triggering further debate and collaboration, rather than hard solutions. However, it does identify eight key areas that need attention:

What the Green Food Project has done for the first time, is to bring together a group of interested organisations to jointly scope out the challenges, then have a fully open debate about the food system. We have done this with the aim of reaching consensus, wherever possible, about where there is a clear way forward and where we need to do much more work. Building on a number of existing, valuable initiatives, we have focussed in this report on areas where we need to, and think we can, most make a difference.
Our conclusions address a range of topics, primarily: research and technology, knowledge exchange, our future workforce, investment, building effective structures, valuing ecosystem services, land management, consumption and waste.

But what are your views? Should more food be produced "organically"? Should genetic modification be considered? Are food subsidies a help or a hindrance?

If quoting figures to support your points, please provide a link to the source. I will also be inviting various interested parties to join the debate, too. And later on today, I will return with my own verdict.