


Food and farming leaders have urged the government to work with the industry and deliver growth across the sector. It comes after the NFU convened a Food Resilience Roundtable – attended farm minister Angela Eagle – alongside food retailers, processors and farm businesses.
Roundtable participants highlighted the need for a clear government ambition for homegrown food production. Some 27 industry leaders have now sent a letter to Dame Angela outlining ways Defra can work with them to grow the food sector. The UK food and drink sector contributes more than £150bn to the national economy – making it the country’s largest manufacturing sector. But industry leaders say rising costs are among the barriers to growth.
Innovation
The letter outlines three areas that food and farming leaders believe will support the sector and enable it to achieve its potential.
• Changes to the planning system – the planning system should be a mechanism that enables growth and innovation, not a barrier to improving high welfare and sustainable food production.
• Improved tax relief to stimulate investment and growth – increasing the scope and size of the Annual Investment Allowance and introducing enhanced capital allowances to incentivise low-carbon investments.
• Enabling access to the right people for skilled work – reforming the Apprenticeship Levy and clarification on the visas available for the Seasonal Workers Scheme.
Fundamental
NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “Food is such a fundamental part of our lives and our society, and the government has rightly said that ‘food security is national security. We want to go further than this – we want to be a driving force behind Britain’s economic renewal – and every person who signed this letter agrees that our sector has real potential for growth. The government’s developing food strategy should also focus on resilience, said Mr Bradshaw. “Resilience and confidence have to underpin this, with a clear framework of enabling policy and targeted investment.
“Setting defined government targets for domestic food production will provide the certainty and direction our farmers and growers need – balancing food production with the targets that already exist for protecting the environment. The UK’s food sector is ready to work with the new farm minister to deliver this – to strengthen our food security, help mitigate some of the current inflationary pressures and build a thriving rural economy.”