Farm to Fork Summit

Thérèse Coffey Excerpts

Tuesday 16th May 2023 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Dr Thérèse Coffey)]

Today the Prime Minister and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Ministers will meet representatives from across the supply chain at the UK Farm to Fork summit to discuss further opportunities to boost growth, innovation and sustainability in the food sector. The event will build on progress made since the Government’s Food Strategy was published last year, in which we committed to broadly maintaining the current level of food we produce domestically, while sustainably boosting production in sectors such as horticulture and seafood.

The Government have set out a new package of support for farmers to strengthen food security, boost trade and exports, unlock new technologies and support the long-term resilience and sustainability of the sector today.

The Government will protect the interests of farmers by making sure they get a fair price for their produce. We are already using new powers under the Agriculture Act 2020 to improve transparency and contracts in the pork and dairy markets. We are now announcing additional reviews into the horticulture and egg supply chains, in light of the impact of global challenges on these sectors in particular. In addition, we have listened to feedback from the sector and we will not be merging the Groceries Code Adjudicator with the Competition and Markets Authority, in recognition of the importance of the code and the adjudicator in ensuring fairness in the UK food supply chain

The Government will unlock the benefits of innovative technologies to strengthen our food security, cementing the UK’s leadership in this field. We will invest up to £30 million to drive forward the use of precision breeding technologies. This will build on the £8 million already invested over the last five years and the passing of the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 earlier this year. We will also create a new working group—bringing together plant breeders, food manufacturers and retailers—to get produce from farms to the shelves.

The horticulture sector is worth £5 billion across the UK and the Government will support the industry to boost production. We will improve future support for horticulture by replacing the retained EU fruit and vegetable producer organisation scheme when it closes in 2026 with an expanded offer as part of our new farming schemes. Given the important role that controlled environment horticulture (CEH) plays in UK food production, the Government will investigate what more can be done to support the sector. This will include assessing where sectors such as CEH struggle to provide the necessary data to qualify for current support under the energy intensive industries (EII) exemption scheme. At the UK Farm to Fork summit we announced that:

To increase domestic horticulture production and extend the growing season, the Government will consider the unique needs of controlled environment horticulture, which includes glasshouses, in their development of industrial energy policies to allow this sector to benefit from decarbonisation and better access to renewables, including in the upcoming consultation on Phase 3 of the IETF in June.

We will explore how we can increase the resource efficiency of the sector, and help to create a circular economy, by utilising industrial and power sector waste heat as a thermal source of energy for glasshouses and looking at options for co-location to improve energy efficiencies.

To ensure that farmers have access to the labour they need, the number of seasonal workers available in 2024 will again be 45,000—plus 2,000 for poultry—an uplift of 15,000 compared to what was available to businesses at the start of 2022, with the potential for a further 10,000 visas should the demand be proven. We will build on this and set out an action plan for the horticulture sector in the autumn, when we will also respond to the Labour review.

Building on the Plan for Water announced last month, the Government will accelerate work on water supply infrastructure, make abstraction licences more flexible, create national and regional water resource management plans, and support farmer-led groups to identify local water resource schemes to support farmers with the access to water they need to be productive.

The Government will give formers greater freedoms to make the best use of their existing agricultural buildings and support the wider rural economy by launching a review of the planning barriers to farm diversification later this year.

This Government will boost trade and export opportunities to get more British food on plates across the world, building on the £24 billion a year generated by our food and drink exports. Farmers’ interests will be put at the heart of trade policy through a new framework for trade negotiations, committing to protect the UK’s high food and welfare standards and prioritise new export opportunities. We will invest £2 million to boost our programme of global trade shows and missions, provide £1.6 million for the GREAT food and drink campaign, and introduce five additional agri-food and drink attachés. We will extend funding to promote seafood exports around the world with an extra £1 million between 2025 and 2028, and create a new bespoke £1 million programme to help dairy businesses, particularly SMEs, to seize export opportunities, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.

Fulfilling the Prime Minister’s priority on economic growth, the Government will continue to work hand-in-hand with the industry to champion UK food and drink, both at home and abroad, helping more businesses to invest in domestic production and innovation.

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