It comes after the NFU convened a 'food resilience' roundtable, which Dame Angela Eagle attended on her second day as Farming Minister, alongside representatives from retailers, processors and farm businesses.
The roundtable highlighted the need for a clear government ambition for homegrown food production, just as it has for the environment through legislated targets.
With the UK’s food and drink sector now contributing a staggering sum of more than £150 billion to the economy – our largest manufacturing sector – but facing increasingly high costs and barriers to growth, the roundtable also called for the developing National Food Strategy to focus on the resilience of the UK’s food system.
“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.”
NFU President Tom Bradshaw
What did the letter say?
The letter to the Minister outlined three areas that food businesses believe will support this work:
- 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 – specifically 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 – specifically reforming the apprenticeship levy and clarification on the visas available for the Seasonal Workers Scheme.
The letter was signed by:
- NFU President Tom Bradshaw
- NFU Cymru President Aled Jones
- Noble Foods Group CEO Duncan Everett
- ABP Beef CEO Bob Carnell
- Barfoots Group CEO Julian Marks
- M&S Food Managing Director Alex Freudmann
- Associated British Foods PLC CEO George Weston
- Dunbia CEO Niall Browne
- Arla Foods Managing Director Bas Padberg
- Sofina Foods Europe CEO Ashi Amirahmadi
- BRC Director of Food & Sustainability Andrew Opie
- ALDI Stores Ltd. Chief Executive Giles Hurley
- Asda Chief Commercial Officer Darren Blackhurst
- Waitrose Managing Director James Bailey
- The Co-operative Group Propositions Director Adele Balmforth
- Sainsbury's CEO Simon Roberts
- 2 Sisters Food Group President Ranjit Singh
- Morrisons Group Strategy & Transformation Director James Badger
- Tesco UK CEO Ashwin Prasad
- Lidl GB Chief Commercial Officer Richard Bourns
- G’s Group Chair John Shropshire
- Pilgrim’s Europe President Ivan Siqueira
- Dovecote Park Chair David Gunner
- Kepak CEO Meat Division Tom Finn
- First Milk CEO Shelagh Hancock
- Muller Milk & Ingredients CEO Rob Hutchison
- Booths Managing Director Nigel Murray
Economic renewal
Following the sending of the letter, 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.
“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 Farming Minister to deliver this; to strengthen our food security, help mitigate some of the current inflationary pressures and build a thriving rural economy.”
