Every year members of the national Horticulture & Potatoes Board come up for re-election. Every year we seek new Members to come forward to serve on the Board to represent the interests of all growers of fruit, veg, plants and flowers. British Horticulture & Potatoes utilises just 2% of farmed land area and delivers 25% of UK farm gate value. Our representation is broad - over 340 different crops but our issues are very similar. The key policy issues are Labour, Trade, Supply chain fairness, Plant Health & Crop Protection, Farm assurance and audits, Employment law and employment costs and Water. That said we talk about a broad range of topics and do our best to ensure that the NFU has a clear message on all these issues to influence both Ministers and MP’s as well as the supply chain and retailers.
British Horticulture is ambitious and now is a great time to join our Board. There will be exciting work to do in the next few years to ensure that the industry is ready to deal with new ways to trade and export, increased self-sufficiency for UK consumers and to capitalise on the health and nutrition agendas.
I joined the Board in 2012, almost 8 years ago and served as Vice Chair for 2015 and have served as Chairman since being elected in 2016. The NFU is a broad church representing a range of commodity issues and many cross-sector issues. I had absolutely no idea about the breadth of issues that the NFU covered until I stepped up to get involved. I also had not realised what an excellent team of very knowledgeable and well qualified experts are employed by the NFU to assist members needing to navigate their businesses through a wide variety of issues.
It’s been an eventful journey but one I have thoroughly enjoyed. It has been great fun to get to know NFU members all over the country, to stand up for our businesses and to contribute to Board strategy with the team at the NFU. If you want to make a contribution to our industry and care about what the future looks like, why not step up to influence it. The NFU are calling for nominations now and we would welcome new members to the Board. Please click here for further details.
Modern Slavery is a crucial issue for our industry and every year organised crime gangs become more adept at exploiting employees and employers. You may be interested in finding out more by attending these events:
Working Together to Prevent Modern Slavery Conference which will be held on Friday 31st January 2020 and hosted at G’s Barway and sponsored by the NFU.
Throughout the day, you will hear from high profile speakers including Dame Sara Thornton, Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Lucy Frazer QC MP, Minister of State, Minister of Justice and Paul Willgoss, Director of Technology, M&S. In addition there will be workshops where you will be able to share your views and knowledge on how we can all work together to prevent Modern Slavery in our supply chains. The workshops will be facilitated by experts such as Paul Gerrard, Campaigns & Public Affairs Director, Co-op, Louise Herring, FNET and Herring Consultancy Ltd and Gillian Haythornthwaite, Director at nGaje.
Secure your tickets via the EvntBrite page here.
Modern Slavery in Rural Areas Seminar is being organised by The Church Commissioners for England and The Clewer Initiative.?It will be held on Thursday 20th February 2020 from 10.30am. The seminar is kindly being hosted by Savills at their Margaret Street Offices, London.
Chaired by the Right Reverend Doctor Alastair Redfern, Chairman of The Clewer Initiative, some highlights of the event will include personal experiences being shared on modern slavery within the agricultural and rural sector, as well as a look at identifying both the problems faced and impactful solutions that can be found. The confirmed key note speakers for the seminar include:
- Lys Ford - Partnership Development Manager, Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA)
- Shayne Tyler - Group Compliance Director, Fresca Group UK
- Esther Pollard - The Diocesan Secretary, Diocese of Truro
- Ali Capper - Horticulture and Potatoes Board Chair, National Farmers' Union (NFU)
Places are limited so sign up now here.