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NFU Horticulture advisers Chief horticulture and potatoes adviser Lee Abbey e: lee.abbey@nfu.org.uk
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Horticulture adviser Christine McDowell: christinemcdowell@nfu. org.uk
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In July, when the Government’s Food Strategy was published, we welcomed the commitment to a growth plan for horticulture. Despite all the changes at Defra, it has been re-afrmed by Minister of State Mark Spencer MP that this remains a government priority for all sectors of horticulture – including ornamental crop production. Your team at the NFU will do everything it can to support the development of a viable growth strategy, but the most immediate priority is to build confdence and resilience in the sector as we face unprecedented cost price infation and the impact of economic recession.
This issue of the magazine details the latest Promar report into cost price infation and industry confdence. The fact that we commissioned two such reports in the same year underlines the ongoing challenges that most businesses are facing. Thank you to all those businesses that candidly and confdentially supplied the data to the Promar team.
The report itself is a snapshot of the real circumstances of representative businesses this autumn. It’s a sobering picture – but it’s inevitable that there will be some businesses in a far worse position than those sampled. The report now forms part of the evidence base of NFU campaigning for operating and trading conditions that will support the sustainable growth of the sector. I hope it is also a resource that members can reference in their own direct negotiations with customers.
Amongst the other challenges that accompany a recession are those associated with organised crime. We need to be mindful and vigilant of the threats posed by modern slavery and you will fnd news of recent initiatives on pages 24-5.
Finally, may I wish you some peaceful relaxation over the festive season.
More than 5,400 people have downloaded the NFU’s dedicated mobile app – and with a wealth of fast-changing trade, campaigns and supply chain news being added daily, there’s never been a more important time to join them.
The App lets members customise content by farming sector and access downloaded content without an internet connection.
It gives the option of being notified when important news and information is added –and it’s free for NFU members.
Visit your usual app provider.
AND POLICY A round-up of what the NFU is doing for you – including Back British Farming Day and lobbying on labour, peat and costs
ON A KNIFE EDGE The figures are in from an NFUcommissioned report on inflationary pressures
A major new analysis commissioned by the NFU has lifted the lid on the true extent of cost infation in UK horticulture and provided vital evidence for discussions with regulators, the supply chain and government.
The work by Promar International demonstrated an alarming picture across a range of crops, including the fact that by autumn 2022, energy costs had seen a staggering 165% average increase year-on-year.
The NFU said burdens must be shouldered across the supply chain and has been in dialogue with Groceries Code Adjudicator Mark White.
Full read-out from p9
Horticulture should be considered a vulnerable sector given the breadth of the current challenges, and therefore eligible for support beyond the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, the NFU has stressed.
It has underlined the message at numerous high-level discussions in recent weeks.
Ministers are expected to identify business areas requiring longer-term energy support midway through the six-month scheme.
More on p27
The NFU has welcomed the launch of GB Potatoes.
NFU Potato Forum chair Tim Rooke said it could fll important gaps left after the demise of AHDB Potatoes, including by providing a dedicated, sector-specifc voice for the broader industry and the coordination of research and development projects.
He noted the launch came during a time of “unprecedented challenges and uncertainties”.
GB Potatoes chair Mark Taylor urged growers to support the organisation, which aims to provide cross-industry working based on a voluntary levy.
Read more on p32
As part of the Growing Media Taskforce, the NFU continues to maintain that legislation is not the right mechanism to shift the industry away from peat.
At a series of meetings, it has highlighted the sector’s progress to date and called for the government to work with growers to ensure the availability of alternative media, at scale. Defra has announced a ban on the sale of peat by 2024, but a bar on use in the commercial sector is likely to come at a much later date.
Full story on p23
The NFU, its members and campaign supporters reached more than six million people on social media on Back British Farming Day on November 2.
The annual celebration of all that is great about British farming and growing also saw 92 MPs attend our parliamentary event – where the NFU's Community Farming Heroes award winners were revealed – while senior politicians from across political parties wore the iconic wheatsheaf pin badge in Westminster and during Prime Minister’s Questions.
Among a series of glowing endorsements of the sector, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak responded to a question from MP for Totnes Anthony Mangnall by saying: “British farmers are indeed the lifeblood of our nation.
“I join him in celebrating their contribution and I agree with him that we need to prioritise food security.”
The day trended at number fve on Twitter and also generated 361 pieces of media coverage, including a signifcant column in the Daily Mail from NFU President Minette Batters, headlined 'Rishi Sunak MUST support the heroic farmers who put food on Britain's plates three times a day'.
See NFUonline for a full round-up
Defra has earmarked £12.5 million of Farming Innovation Programme funding to support automation and robotics in horticulture.
The allocation will open in January and will match-fund projects that drive economic growth and food security, while delivering on environmental commitments.
Controlled environment glasshouses to boost fruit and vegetable production will be an area of particular focus and the Secretary of State announced that an industry expert would be appointed to work with Defra to build a clearer picture of the opportunities there. Such production currently represents only 10% of English horticultural businesses.
The support was announced following then-Defra Secretary Ranil Jayawardena’s visit to the Netherlands, where he toured a robotics institute and a glasshouse business which uses artificial intelligence, robotics, renewable energy and water-neutral systems.
The NFU has welcomed the investment, but highlighted the need for all growing systems to be recognised under the government’s ambitions to grow the sector.
“Equally important is the need for a reliable workforce to carry out those jobs which cannot be automated,” said chief science and regulatory a airs adviser Dr Helen Ferrier.
See also: Machine learnings, p31
An immigration system that recognises the specific needs and challenges in horticulture was among the priority areas raised when NFU President Minette Batters spoke with new Defra Secretary Thérèse Coffey.
The need for a statutory underpinning of food production to maintain current levels of selfsufficiency, and a trade strategy to achieve the NFU's ambition of boosting food and drink exports by 30% to 2030, were also high on the agenda. Mrs Batters said it was “a pivotal time” for farming and the nation.
The charity responsible for managing public engagement with the National Fruit Collections at Brogdale Farm, in Kent, is looking for a chair of its trustees.
While Defra and the University of Reading fund the scientific work, without Brogdale Collections the site would have no public access, nor the popular events, tours, educational visits and tastings which connect thousands of people with the sector each year.
The charity is seeking an experienced leader, adept at analysing data, who can motivate and communicate with a wide range of stakeholders. The role would amount to around one or two days a month.
For more details, email Brogdale Collections vice-chair, Tony Hillier, at tonyhillier815@gmail.com
Average rainfall this winter may not be enough to prevent underlying drought conditions in parts of England from running well into next year, along with the possibility of restrictions on water use.
Projections at the latest meeting of the National Drought Group, which includes the NFU, suggested that the South West, South East, and eastern areas including Yorkshire and the East Midlands, were most at risk. Low water levels and ‘impending drought’ or ‘drought’ conditions there could continue beyond the spring if rainfall is below average, the group heard.
The NFU continues to work with the Environment Agency on flexible abstraction measures and is pressing for water for crops to be prioritised.
A Kent farm business hopes a £10 million renewable energy project will allow British berries to be grown out of season, while also improving its environmental footprint.
NFU members Clock House Farm have invested in technology that will source heat from the nearby River Medway, in what is thought to be one of the largest river-source heat pumps in Europe.
The project has taken three years to bring to fruition and will deliver consistent heat to a 6.5ha site of high-tech poly greenhouses.
That will allow raspberries, blackberries and strawberries to be grown over a far longer season, potentially extending from April to December.
At a time of soaring inflation across the supply chain, the NFU commissioned Promar International to shine a spotlight on the true impact of cost pressures on growers. Michael Barker reports
To paraphrase the famous opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities, these are the best of times, these are the worst of times; it is an age of wisdom, an age of foolishness; a season of light, a season of darkness; the spring of hope, and the winter of despair.
Charles Dickens wasn’t writing about the 2022 horticultural production season when he penned his seminal novel in 1859, but the message rings just as true.
Super-efficient growers, utilising new technologies to produce in a sustainable way for a market where fruit and veg consumption continues to rise, all fall into the plus column and create reasons for optimism. However,
spiralling input costs, labour shortages, a combination of disastrous global events and a nightmarish summer of upheaval for the government are cancelling out that long-term positivity and leaving a climate of nervousness where profitability has been drained. The industry, it is fair to say, is resting on a knife edge.
In an effort to lift the lid on the true extent of cost inflation in the UK horticulture sector, the NFU commissioned Promar International to carry out an analysis of input cost increases and business pressures, with the report painting an alarming picture of the financial health of the industry.
The study is a follow-up to Promar and NFU’s first report in March 2022 and sought to bring the picture up to
date, interviewing leading fresh produce growers in October. It focused on a range of crops, from Gala apples, strawberries and tomatoes to broccoli, carrots, lettuce, mushrooms, onions and potatoes.
For context, the report is a snapshot in time, and only an indication of the inflation growers are facing.
Back in spring 2022, the biggest year-on-year inflationary increases were reported in energy (+81%), fertiliser (+75%), packaging (+25%), transport and raw materials (both +18%), and labour (+15%).
Those were already eye-watering input cost rises, but there was much worse to come: by autumn 2022 energy
costs had seen a staggering 165% increase year on year, with fertilisers up 40%, transport 28%, packaging 23%, plants/raw materials 20%, and workforce costs up 13%. Broccoli, tomato, onion, lettuce and potato suppliers interviewed reported year-on-year production cost increases of between 20% and 25%, while even the least inflationary product –strawberries – recorded a 13% production cost hike.
All crops have seen additional increases in the past six months compared to the March report, underlining the huge extra strain heaped on growers over the summer and autumn.
“Nothing has got fundamentally better for horticultural producers in the past six months,” writes report
author John Giles, divisional director at Promar International. “Some producers have been able to pass on increased costs of production to retailers since the spring of 2022, but often not at the rate that has been required to keep pace with their costs of production. And often, as soon as a price increase is agreed, costs carry on soaring and the situation only gets worse again.”
Many horticultural producers in the UK are consequently struggling to make any degree of profit and in fact are often making a loss, Mr Giles says, and the bad news is the situation is not expected to get any better in the next six to 12 months.
Following the publication of the report, the NFU wrote to all grocery retailer CEOs in a private letter laying out Promar’s findings. The union
The Energy Bill Relief Scheme was aimed at o ering businesses some respite from astronomical gas and electricity price rises, but while its introduction was welcome, it has not necessarily changed much for growers, some of whom have already fixed their prices in advance of the scheme being introduced. With the price cap limited to six months, the horticulture sector lacks any long-term certainty that bills won’t go through the roof once next spring comes around. The way the scheme is administered is also not totally clear to many growers, Promar notes.
While the cost of businesses’ seasonal and permanent workforces has risen by a relatively modest – in comparison with other categories – 13%, the significance of that cannot be understated as it accounts for anything between 40-70% of a horticultural outfit’s overall production costs, depending on the crop. Promar’s report suggests that producers are struggling to keep their heads above water, and with the e ciency of workers from some new source countries lower than that which growers have been used to with eastern Europeans, lower productivity also comes at a cost. To make matters worse, in addition to new minimum wage thresholds in the Seasonal Worker visa scheme, growers have also been required to provide extras such as wifi at accommodation sites, transport to and from farms and payment for lunch hours, which all adds to the cost.
highlighted that without sustained, consistent and responsible action from all parts of the supply chain, we risk deepening a crisis that could lead to a contraction in the market, reduce the availability of British produce and ultimately leave many growers no option but to leave the sector altogether. The letter called on buyers to discuss with suppliers’ sustainable market pricing with urgency.
urgency.
Across the industry, growers are taking a range of measures to mitigate the impact of inflation if they are not making a sufficient margin. Promar found that some growers were taking steps to reduce production, with plantings scaled back by up to 20% in some cases this year already. That is only likely to accelerate, especially in the glasshouse salad sector as energy costs remain staggeringly high. Other probable outcomes include reducing the number
“Some producers have been able to pass on increased costs of production to retailers since the spring of 2022, but often not at the rate that has been required to keep pace with their costs of production. And often, as soon as a price increase is agreed, costs carry on soaring and the situation only gets worse again.”
of Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) supplied, or in the vegetable and potatoes sectors in particular, even switching out of horticultural crops altogether into more profitable alternatives.
Indeed, Yorkshire carrot grower Guy Poskitt says the sector is at a crossroads, with many field veg g rowers considering the lure of better-paying options such as energy crops, wheat or sugar beet.
William Burgess, chairman of Burgess Farms, adds: “We think the 2023 spring [carrot] crop will be substantially down on this year, because why would you speculate when you can get money growing wheat and other crops? I think 2023/24 will have a real issue around availability.”
In the past, retailers may have simply turned abroad for supplies, but Promar’s report notes that importing from the likes of the Netherlands, Spain or Ireland is less feasible than in the past, with growers and exporters there subject to the same pressures as their counterparts in the UK. Indeed,
European fresh produce association
Freshfel Europe has warned that sky-high energy prices and input cost hikes are supressing output across the continent. To compound the problem, the lower value of the pound has also made imports to the UK less affordable.
As well as reducing crop output, the combination of inflationary pressure and insufficient returns is putting huge pressure on producers’ cash flow, delaying future business planning and investment decisions, and putting stress on supplier-retailer relationships – and that’s before taking into account the toll on growers’ mental health of dealing with all these challenges during a summer of extreme weather conditions.
It’s no longer an idle threat to say that some businesses will decide they’ve had enough and pack it in.
So what can be done to stop the bleeding? The NFU has a number of key asks of the government and retailers to ensure the industry remains viable and has the opportunity to achieve its full
potential, with three issues of paramount importance.
Firstly, the industry urgently needs a commitment to lift the cap on the Seasonal Worker Scheme, and for it to be guaranteed for a minimum five-year rolling programme.
Second, agriculture and horticulture should be classified as a vulnerable sector and receive longer-term energy price support, extending well beyond the initial three-month commitment.
For the supermarket sector, amid frequent reports of buyers resisting requests from suppliers to increase returns, there need to be good-faith discussions about the realities of cost
price inflation, aligned to the GCA’s seven golden rules for CPI and for returns to reflect a level that allows suppliers to remain profitable.
The NFU also wants to see the government’s welcome commitment of delivering a horticulture strategy for England be developed as a matter of urgency, and to ensure that the rest of the supply chain supports this ambition and works with growers to manage current and future volatility.
“In these unprecedented times, stability and confidence are critical,” says NFU chief horticultural adviser Lee Abbey.
“The cost pressures must be shared across the entire supply chain, not fall squarely on the shoulders of growers. As representatives of UK growers across all sectors of horticulture, we have been in dialogue with Groceries Code Adjudicator Mark White to
“Farmers
ensure that he is aware of the pressures growers are under and that fairness is embedded across the supply chain.
“It is critical that UK businesses are able to have constructive dialogue w ith their customers on sensible cost price inflation.”
In his latest report, published in September, Mr White noted that a quarter of respondents to his 2022 supplier survey said they had experienced a refusal to consider a cost price increase or had an unreasonable delay in reaching a decision on a CPI request.
Those figures made it the most common issue reported in the past five
years, and it’s clear that more needs to be done.The consequences of inaction by government and retailers are set to be severe, and would inevitably lead to supply shortages and empty shelves – a perverse outcome at a time when the government’s Food Strategy is all about increasing domestic production and improving the nation’s health.
UK growers are highly skilled, ambitious, at the cutting edge of innovative production techniques, and are willing to invest in their businesses. But they can’t do that without support, and if it doesn’t come soon, then a contraction of the industry looks the inevitable outcome. P
for thisland has become intense as commodities have moved faster with inflation than fresh produce, with many commodity crops worth double what they were a year ago and with less risk, skill and investment involved,” he points out.
and growers will move with the needs of the market – they always have and always will – so if produce is undervalued as it has been, we will see an exodus from veg production, I am sure.”
“We think the 2023 spring (carrot) crop will be substantially down on this year, because why would you speculate when you can get money growing wheat and other crops? I think 2023/24 will have a real issue around availability.”
Frustration and concerns are mounting at the lack of any announcement from the new government on an expanded Seasonal Worker Scheme (SWS) for 2023.
While the current scheme is due to run for another two seasons, providing a degree of certainty, the sector remains anxious about its ability to plan ahead and fears that the 38,000 visas granted by the Home Ofce under the scheme will not be enough next year.
NFU chief horticulture adviser Lee Abbey says: “There’s a distinct feeling of déjà vu as we creep into November and still don’t have the anticipated announcement on an expanded seasonal worker scheme for 2023.
“We continue to lose EU nationals with settled or pre-settled status as they seek permanent roles closer to home, and growers are unable to fll the gaps with domestic workers.
“The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke openly during the leadership election about the importance of the SWS and seemed to appreciate the reality that domestic workers cannot meet the horticulture industry’s labour requirements,” he adds.
“We hope this translates into action.
Growers can’t aford for the appointment of new ministers to create unnecessary delays or undermine positive moves that were already in motion.”
Staggering merry-go-round Lincolnshire brassica grower and former chair of the NFU Horticulture and Potatoes Board, Sarah Pettitt, fnds it hard to believe that the sector is still in the position of needing to convince government to act on labour.
“Ever since the halcyon days of SAWS ended in 2013, compounded by the fall-out of Brexit, we have been on a lobbying merry-go-round with government seeking to convince successive ministers and cabinets of the sector’s requirement for a reliable and secure labour supply,” she says.
“On our farm, like so many other growers, we rely on a hard-working and dedicated team of staf from Europe and beyond, because there’s no reliable or available alternative. It’s no coincidence that brassica production has declined in line with the drop in the workforce.
“The fact that we are still in a position of having to lobby government to extend, renew and amend rules and allowances on seasonal labour a decade
later is staggering – particularly so at a time when government is enthusiastic about increasing food production, especially in horticulture. We simply can’t do this with our hands tied behind our backs or an annual negotiation on worker numbers.”
The NFU continues to provide evidence of the need for the scheme’s expansion, and on the impacts that labour shortages are having on the sector and consumers. P
• Remove the visa number cap from the Seasonal Worker Scheme
• Provide longer-term certainty, with a minimum of a fve-year rolling programme
• Extend visa length from six to nine months
• Remove the seasonal worker wage and revert to national wage legislation.
The Government Food Strategy, launched in June this year, followed an independent review of the food system carried out by Defra non-executive director and founder of the Leon food chain, Henry Dimbleby, in 2021.
Mr Dimbleby’s review set out an in-depth analysis of the challenges facing the food system and made a raft of recommendations on how to tackle them.
The resulting strategy sets out the policy initiatives that the government is prepared to progress and considers more recent challenges to the food system triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resulting rise in food price infation.
It prioritises food security, sustainable production and healthier living, alongside promoting the UK as part of a global food system amongst its aims.
The NFU welcomed the attention from government on the future of food production and some detail on how, and when, the government’s intentions will be delivered.
In particular, the sentiment towards horticulture throughout the report was largely positive, emphasising the potential for growth in the sector.
NFU President Minette Batters described the strategy as a clear milestone for the industry.
“The government is recognising the importance of domestic food production, maintaining our productive capacity and growing more food in this country, particularly at a time when the war in Ukraine has focused attention on the importance and fragility of our global food security,” she says.
“Food production will always be core to a nation’s resilience and I’m pleased the government has recognised this.”
One of the strategy’s key elements is an ambition to develop a horticulture strategy for England, which it is hoped will drive production growth, w ith enabling policies across Whitehall to unlock the sector’s potential.
And a horticulture growth plan recognised and backed by all government departments can’t come soon enough for NFU Horticulture and Potatoes Board chair Martin Emmett.
Speaking to NFU Council in October, he said: “Recent global events act as a harsh demonstration of the fragility of food security, but are bringing about a realisation that the UK could, and should, be more self-sustaining when it comes to food.
Hayley Campbell-Gibbons runs the rule over the newnational food strategy, the government’s response to the review conducted by Henry Dimbleby
“Overall, the Government Food Strategy provides a number of positive opportunities for the horticulture sector. The most signifcant of these is the horticulture growth plan for England, which we urge Defra to implement without delay.”
Other positive policy proposals for the horticulture sector in the strategy include:
A recognition of the need for a ‘sufcient, qualifed, and well-paid workforce to support every food and drink business’. It advocates a skilled worker visa route into the horticulture sector, and a review of the shortage occupation list. Crucially, the strategy commits government to
commissioning an independent review to assess the quality and quantity of the food sector workforce to address supply chain labour shortages.
The strategy emphasises the potential for increasing the use of technology and automation within horticulture. The £270 million ‘Farming Innovation Programme’ is referenced in the report as being available to help growers invest in new, productivity-boosting equipment. However, this grant was not developed with horticultural automation in mind, and many growers do not meet the criteria necessary to receive funding. On the back of the strategy’s publication, the NFU is urging Defra to lead a review of the
Henry Dimbleby says that the policy document was not detailed enough to be called a strategy, though it adopted more than 50% of his recommendations.
Elsewhere, he has called on ministers to ensure that the budget payments for farmers to deliver environmental benefts, such as preventing foods and improving soils, are guaranteed until at least 2029.
He was pleased to see ministers back measures to ensure half of food for public procurement is cultivated locally or to higher standards. But other proposed key measures such as free fruit and veg for children sufering in food poverty and an expansion of free school meals were not completely carried forwards.
“There is a big gap still on trade, where they have not explained how they are going to protect our standards from cheap imports,” Mr Dimbleby adds.
fnancial and fscal support for automation in horticulture.
Government goals to promote healthy eating and reduce rates of obesity centre around increased consumption of fruit and vegetables. The strategy specifcally commits government to review the delivery of the current school fruit and vegetable scheme.
It also suggests the public sector should procure food that is healthier, sustainable and local, with a recommended target of 50% of the food budget being spent in this way.
A point of concern in the strategy is the mention of ‘extended producer
“The government is recognising the importance of domestic food production, maintaining our productive capacity and growing more food in this country, particularly at a time when the war in Ukraine has focused attention on the importance and fragility of our global food security”
responsibility’, which means growers will be responsible for the packaging they produce.
Extended producer responsibility begins in January 2023 for businesses with an annual turnover of £1 million that are responsible for more than 25 tonnes of packaging in the calendar year. Any growers that meet these criteria will have to collect and submit packaging data, pay a waste management fee and meet strict recycling obligations.
The UK horticulture sector is incredibly ambitious and wants to rise to government's challenge. To help achieve this, the NFU has developed 10 critical building blocks to develop and grow the industry:
ACCESS TO LABOUR A minimum fve-year seasonal worker scheme, with suitable length visas, and no wage diferential or arbitrary cap on worker numbers.
ACCESS TO WATER
As the sector is vulnerable to drought, greater investment is needed in infrastructure to collect, store and distribute water, both on farms and within and between regions.
ACCESS TO CROP PROTECTION Security of the EAMU programme beyond March 2023, previously funded by horticulture levies and run by AHDB.
Martin Emmett says that time is now of the essence.
“Ironically, the Government Food Strategy talks about the opportunity to expand horticulture production in the UK, something the NFU has highlighted for years.
“But this ambition continues to be undermined by a lack of joined-up thinking between government departments and inconsistent policies which threaten signifcant contraction of the industry.
“Some sectors have already cut production by as much as 30% this year due to a combination of poor labour availability and rising input costs. Unless businesses can have confdence going into 2023, we expect to see this escalate further.
“Our building blocks for success are a solid starting point for government to develop its plan. Yet, turning an ambition for horticulture growth into reality requires government to consider the impact on domestic food production of all future policies it designs. If not done right, or soon, the sector’s growth potential will be stifed before it can even begin.” P
A ban on commercial production is not the right approach. There is a need for industry/government collaboration to move towards peatfree in an environmentally and commercially sustainable way.
The close link between energy and food means that government must prioritise access to afordable energy for food production and the supply chain. The energy support package provides a much-needed cushion from wholesale energy prices, but clarity is needed on what happens after the initial six-month period ends.
ENABLING IMPORT CONTROLS FOR PLANTS AND PLANT PRODUCTS
Minimising the barriers and costs for importing plants and plant materials, the foundations of all horticultural production, while maintaining biosecurity. 7
It is critical that growers can have open discussions and fair negotiations on cost price infation with their customers. 8
A replacement to the producer organisation (PO) scheme must be fnalised as soon as possible, without further delays, and should be more inclusive than the previous EU scheme.
A horticulture standard is required in the new environmental schemes that refects the variety of growing systems across the sector.
Greater consistency is needed in planning decisions to support – and not restrict - horticultural businesses' ability to grow.
“Ambition continues to be undermined by a lack of joined-up thinking between government departments and inconsistent policies which threaten signifcant contraction of the industry”
A variety of collaborations are on the cards to fulfl functions formerly carried out by the AHDB
British Apples and Pears (BAPL), British Berry Growers, the Cucumber Growers’ Association and the Tomato Growers’ Association have announced plans to ensure that vital R&D continues in the industry following the end of the statutory levy and AHDB Horticulture.
At the same time as a similar collaboration progresses within the potatoes sector with the launch of GB Potatoes (see p32), the crop associations hope to establish a voluntary levy set-up and are each working on fve-year plans for research.
“ We are striving to achieve a lower cost, value-for-money R&D programme that is efective and allows its members to beneft from match funding and R&D tax credit, if it is at all possible,” says BAPL’s executive chair Ali Capper, who is also an NFU board member.
“We’d be keen to hear from members of the academic community a nd other horticultural crop associations if they wish to be a part of this collaborative initiative.”
Meanwhile, 16 crop associations including HTA and the BPOA have said that they will seed fund a new voluntary levy scheme with £1,000 each to take on key work on EAMU approvals for chemicals to be used on minor crops.
The industry group chaired by Herefordshire grower John Chinn is
proposing to deliver the service through a new company, Horticulture Crop Protection Ltd, which will again be funded through a system of voluntary subscriptions.
Having reviewed the outline proposal for the new HCP Ltd, the AHDB Board has approved, in principle, the requested transfer of surplus horticulture levy funds to the new organisation.
The AHDB says that discussions are ongoing between the parties on the exact details of the arrangements, but report that industry associations have signalled their support for a new voluntary subscription model as proposed by the new body.
It is anticipated that the sum of transferred levies involved is in the region of £1m over a period of time, subject to Defra approval.
During the period of transition from the existing system to the new organisation, which hopes to be up and running in 2023, AHDB will continue to manage the pipeline of work to give the new organisation the greatest chance of success. P
In the potatoes sector, proposals have also been submitted to the AHDB Board for small grants for important work to continue in the absence of AHDB Potatoes taking the lead.
The AHDB board noted that any grant scheme would be contingent on fnalising the sale of the Sutton Bridge research facility and collecting outstanding debt from potato businesses for the 2021 growing season.
The board also felt that a demonstration of industry support for such proposals would allow quicker progress on grant schemes to be made.
As of end of September, AHDB reported that in horticulture (including mushrooms) 94% of levy payers had paid their fnal 2021/22 levy. In potatoes 92% of levy payers (grower and buyer) had paid the fnal invoice. Overall sums outstanding for 2021 and prior years in horticulture stood at c.£742,000 and in potatoes at approximately £643,000.
NFU Horticulture and Potatoes adviser Christine McDowell brings readers up to date
As I write, we have a new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and a new Defra Secretary of State in Thérèse Cofey.
This follows a turbulent time in UK politics and the recent period of uncertainty stretches across into policy development – and not least the expected ban on the sale of peat growing media by 2024.
Since Defra announced its intention to legislate for a ban on the sale of peat by the end of the year after next, there has been much confusion and speculation about what this means for professional growers, not aided by inaccurate headlines in the press. Below is a round-up of the latest situation.
in propagation, plug, blocking and module production. They have also looked at the specifc challenges where no alternative is available, such as in mushroom production.
There are, of course, other crop challenges that Defra is aware of, particularly in the ornamental sector.
The department has also been asking the industry what support is needed for growers to shift to alternatives. A clear ask from all growers is to allow for sufcient time to move, supported by the unblocking of policy barriers in accessing a variety of sustainable alternative materials, grant funding for infrastructure and equipment, and R&D into fnding new materials.
right mechanism to shift the industry to sustainable alternative growing media.
As a responsible sector, conscious of our environmental footprint, we collectively acknowledge the need to reduce our peat use and, indeed, are doing so annually. But there are challenges and unintended consequences to consider, such as having alternative materials available at scale and ensuring a level playing feld with imports.
Defra has said that a peat ban in the professional sector is likely to come at a much later date, potentially into the next decade, in recognition of the complex challenges growers are up against in shifting to alternative materials, and the associated knock-on impacts to the market.
The 2024 date, therefore, relates only to the amateur sector.
Exemptions for professional users are likely to be timebound and for specifc technical reasons. It’s expected ministers will decide on the detail nearer to Christmas.
Defra has been engaging across both the edible and ornamental sectors to understand why exemptions might be needed, the requirements and for how long.
Discussions so far have focused on the technical challenges associated with moving away from peat, such as
The NFU and several growers have also met with the Ofce of Internal Markets, which is considering the implications to the functioning of the internal market of an England-only ban. We continue to provide support as part of this review, which is expected to fnish in February 2023.
The NFU, along with others on the Growing Media Taskforce, continues to maintain that legislation is not the
As an industry, we must also consider carefully that we are not exporting our carbon footprint by shifting to unsustainable alternatives. As such, we are calling on government to work with the industry to remove policy barriers and to support growers.
As we wait to hear who takes up ministerial responsibility for this policy area under the new Conservative leadership, the Growing Media Taskforce is poised with a joint letter requesting a meeting with the new minister to discuss matters. P
• Defra received 5,000-plus responses to its consultation earlier this year, many of which were from NGO-led public campaigns. Growers and industry bodies also submitted industry views.
• Around 0.5 million tonnes of C02 is emitted from use of peat in growing media in the UK, out of total UK CO2 emissions of 205 million tonnes; peat in UK growing media accounts for 0.12% of the UK’s carbon emissions and is already rapidly falling.
• Peat extraction in the UK is from around 1,000 hectares, or 0.04% of the UK’s peatlands, and is again falling quickly.
• Industry reduced the volume of peat it used in 2021 vs 2020 by half a million cubic metres (30%) in the growing media supplied to gardeners.
• Peat is no longer the most voluminous component in growing media sold to gardeners, having been overtaken by wood-based materials such as wood fbre.
Will there be exemptions for edible and ornamental growers beyond 2024?
The labour practices of the horticulture industry are under scrutiny like never before as the government, media and NGOs all step up their focus on the sector at a time of chronic worker shortages.
The war in Ukraine has deprived growers of a large and reliable workforce this year, heaping further pressure on an industry that’s still dealing with the post-Brexit and Covid exodus of workers. Cranking up the pressure even more, Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner Dame Sara Thornton wrote to ministers at both Defra and the Home Office in January to raise concerns over labour exploitation risks in the seasonal worker visa route and calling on them to take action.
An organisation called FLEX –Focus on Labour Exploitation –has also increased its focus on the fresh produce sector over the past year. The group says it found “a serious risk of forced labour” on the scheme in 2021, with examples of workers facing high levels of debt, zero-hour contracts, unclear deductions and unsuitable accommodation.
“It is now a much more complex scheme, bringing workers from more distant countries into a much bigger network of farms, which makes it extremely difficult to monitor under the current labour market enforcement system,” says FLEX chief executive Lucila Granada.
The risks of bad publicity for growers are manifold, and were hammered home this summer after a Guardian investigation alleged Indonesian fruit pickers were being charged thousands by unlicensed brokers in their home country to work on a farm in Kent.
A raft of initiatives has sprung up to help to tackle these challenges, and the industry is collaborating in new ways to root out bad practice.
In October, a multi-stakeholder roundtable on the Seasonal Worker Scheme met for the first time, comprised of around 50 representatives from across the supply chain, from
growers and retailers to trade associations, NGOs and government.
The group is looking at where exploitation risks exist and how the scheme can be best managed to mitigate them, taking the view that the scheme itself can act as a solution rather than seeing it as the problem itself.
“I was encouraged by the level of collaboration across that wide group of representatives, many of whom see this issue from different perspectives,” says NFU chief horticultural adviser Lee Abbey.
“There was a genuine desire across the group to identify where challenges or problems may exist, and the intention going forward is to identify solutions for them. It’s not about challenging the legitimacy or function of the scheme itself, but to make it work the best it can for the industry and workers.”
The new group is just one of a series of activities taking place. As revealed in the last issue of Horticulture, a Modern Slavery
Intelligence Network has been set up under the co-chairmanship of G’s executive chairman John Shropshire and ex-M&S technical director Paul Willgoss, with the aim of sharing intel across the supply chain and clamping down on rogue operators.
Seasonal labour provider Condordia, meanwhile, has been running a Stop The Fees campaign to help educate both recruiters and workers that nothing beyond the visa and travel costs should be paid for by the individual themselves. The social media-based initiative has been running this year and encouraged both farms and other recruiters to take part.
A multi-language app called Just Good Work has also been set up by a collaboration of recruiters, retailers, the GLAA, Association of Labour Providers and others to offer advice and guidance to workers on everything from correct recruitment practices, to housing, working conditions and more. It was originally set up to combat the risk of modern slavery, debt bondage and exploitation that exists within supply chains using migrant labour, and hopes to empower and equip
As pressure grows on the supply chain to ensure the welfare of seasonal workers, the industry is coming together to tackle the problem head-on. Michael Barker reports
BEST PRACTICE: The industry is pulling together to clamp down on rogue operators and illegal gangs
Fresh produce businesses with an annual turnover above £36 million are required to publish a modern slavery statement each year.
This needs to explain what steps the business has taken to identify, prevent and mitigate modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.
Six specific areas will soon become legal requirements: organisation and supply chain structure; policies on modern slavery and human tra cking; due diligence processes; risk assessment and management; actions taken to prevent modern slavery; and sta training on modern slavery and human tra cking.
Companies must publish their statements by 30 September each year on the online UK Government registry.
jobseekers and workers with the information needed to ensure fair treatment and a positive experience.
The Farm Work Welfare app is another resource for both employers and workers, developed and funded by The Clewer Initiative and supported by a working group that includes the NFU.
It provides growers with information and tools to help avoid criminal organisations and promote worker welfare, as well as offering support for labour providers, document verification and explainers on worker rights. For workers, it helps them to understand their rights, and it also aims to raise awareness among members of the public who live or work in rural areas about how to spot potential exploitation. The app, which
is available in eight languages, contains a reporting tool, so fresh produce businesses, workers and local people can flag up concerns or seek help.
For growers, as well as making sure they are keeping up with legal requirements on modern slavery (see box), they should also be paying close attention to the standard of any temporary accommodation they are providing to workers on farm. The Fresh Produce Consortium offers guidance on this, together with a self-help checklist, to ensure that best practice is being followed.
Suppliers to retail also undertake processes such as the Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit, which is described as the most widely used social audit in the world and enables businesses to assess their sites and
suppliers to understand working conditions in their supply chain.
Even organisations that appear to be putting pressure on the industry say they want to help. Ms Granada points out that FLEX, which is working with partners in Cambridgeshire and South Lincolnshire, wants to identify examples of good practice and opportunities for policy interventions that could help mitigate and address the risks within the seasonal worker visa scheme.
A tight labour supply, the ending of freedom of movement, and a growing threat of illegal gangs trying to penetrate the UK labour market mean that proactive action and attention to detail is the best way to ensure growers do not find themselves at the centre of an unwanted media storm.
“I was encouraged by the level of collaboration across that wide group of representatives, many of whom see this issue from di erent perspectives”
Lee Abbey NFU chief horticultural adviser
The government has announced its energy support package for businesses, but will it be enough? Michael Barker reports
Liz Truss’s ill-fated stint as Prime Minister won’t be remembered for too many positive reasons, but one highlight was the announcement of an energy bill relief scheme to support businesses at a time of soaring costs.
The scheme sees the government ofering a p/kWh discount on wholesale energy prices for businesses, with a supported wholesale price of £211 per MWh for electricity and £75 per MWh for gas. The discount applies for six months from October 2022 to March 2023, with the scheme set to be reviewed midway through to inform decisions on future support. There’s also a suggestion that further discounts could be ofered to “vulnerable” industries, though it’s not yet clear whether farming would qualify.
The long-awaited announcement was described as “a relief” by NFU President Minette Batters, who pointed out that some fruit and vegetable growers have been hit by 300% increases in energy costs. “We welcome the detail announced in the energy support package, which will provide a much-needed cushion for farmers, growers and food businesses who are vulnerable to high wholesale energy prices,” she says.
However, there remain numerous areas of concern. “Given the package does not cover limits on standing charges, it’s essential the government continues to assess the full impact that energy bills will have on business confdence and production,” Mrs Batters continues. “We also need urgent clarity on what support will be available for food businesses after the initial six-month period.”
For growers struggling with across-the-board input cost increases, it’s clear that much more is needed if they are to be convinced that planting will be worthwhile this winter. “We started lobbying for a 50p per therm cap for gas in February,” says Lee Stiles, secretary of the Lea
Valley Growers Association. “The £2.19 per therm cap introduced in October for six months has not encouraged growers to extend their season, grow over winter or plant early next year.”
Growers planting earlier have taken the decision not to plant in all glasshouse blocks to save energy and ensure that their workers stay for the season, Mr Stiles explains, adding that the decisive factor now will be whether supermarkets will stump up for the additional cost price infation. “This will determine whether growers plant in February onwards.”
The NFU has held numerous meetings with government to stress that food and horticultural production should be considered a vulnerable sector given the breadth of infationary challenges around energy, fertiliser, labour and packaging.
“It is clear that risk and uncertainty from energy prices are already spilling over into food,” Mr Abbey says. “The arrival of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme and longer-term energy cost ceilings for the sector should help curtail ongoing and indeed long-term uncertainty.”
Food and horticultural production should also be aforded a longer-term price ceiling to create certainty, enable confdence and stabilise production, Mr Abbey adds, while urgent clarity is needed on how of-grid users of tanked gas can access the scheme.
Primary food production uses a disproportionately high amount of tanked gas relative to the wider economy.
Another NFU ask is that the new energy supply taskforce develops a plan that supports “a functioning domestic energy market” and provides stability for British farm businesses, rewards those producing renewable energy and enables the continued production of sustainable and afordable British food.
It’s clear that for many growers, while the announcements are welcome, there’s more to do before they have the confdence to invest. P
When the NFU launched its Fruit & Veg Pledge, a key pillar involved reducing waste by having realistic retail specifcations, a lack of which has been one of the criticisms levelled at supermarkets by growers over the years.
The pursuit of visual perfection, it was argued, was coming at the expense of perfectly edible fresh produce being sent to processing or left unharvested, simply because it did not meet some arbitrary size threshold.
It has often felt like that call has fallen on deaf ears, but after this summer there are tangible signs that things are starting to change.
Driven by a weather-impacted harvest and shortage of supply, some retailers have been expanding their specifcations and pitching produce to consumers in new ways to reduce wastage and gaps on shelves.
This autumn, Co-op announced it had more than doubled the number of mini apples it sells to nearly 1,300 stores to help growers whose crop had not sized up due to the hot, dry weather.
It pitched the fruit as ideal for children’s lunchboxes, and even name-checked the NFU’s Fruit & Veg Pledge in its publicity.
“Shoppers can all too often be put of by fresh produce that is a diferent size, colour or shape than they are used to, but our farmers are facing challenges and we must all work together to ensure that delicious
great-tasting seasonal fresh produce ends up on our tables where it belongs,” says Co-op director of Trade for Fresh, Sinead Bell.
Earlier in the summer, Tesco revealed it had loosened its iceberg lettuce specs to help growers harvest quicker, so product retained its crispness. It meant nearly a million lettuces a week being picked up to two days earlier during the dry conditions.
Meanwhile, in August Lidl wrote to all of its British fresh produce suppliers to examine ways of ensuring crops do not go to waste, promising to work closely with them to fnd ways of accommodating diferent-sized product. Pointedly, chief executive Ryan McDonnell says: “While some supermarkets have chosen to create a separate ‘wonky veg’ label, we don’t believe in creating a false market.
“Instead, we have always strived to work collaboratively with our suppliers to ensure that we are fexible at diferent times of the year. Now, more than ever, it’s critical that we and the rest of the sector get behind suppliers.”
Despite the progress, the days of wonky veg lines are not quite over yet, and it seems there is consumer demand for them right now too. According to Kantar fgures, lines such as Tesco’s Perfectly Imperfect and Morrisons’ Naturally Wonky collectively saw a 38% increase in sales in the month to 2 October, as the cost-of-living crisis drove shoppers to cheaper ranges.
For their part, growers would prefer to see non-standard specifcation products included within established tiering, and the hope is that the progress made over this most difcult of summers continues in that positive direction. P
adviser Lee Abbey.
see that these are still great-tasting, quality fruit and veg and aren’t conditioned to think there’s something
“It’s
with them just because they are a diferent size or shape. We’d like to see further collaboration between supermarkets and suppliers going forward, to utilise the whole crop.”
“There are good examples of what we want to see going forward –loosening specifcations and adapting to the conditions facing growers rather than simply putting them into ‘wonky’ ranges at lower farmgate return,” says NFU chief horticulture
important that consumers
wrong
“It’s critical that we and the rest of the sector get behind suppliers”
Ryan McDonnell Lidl chief executive
Afrustrating element in the labour debate has been a tendency in some quarters to point to high-tech automation as a panacea for the issues in UK horticulture.
But while progress has been made, and a number of trials are underway across the UK, a Defra-commissioned review has underlined the distance left to run before the rise of the machines – and, echoing the NFU, highlighted the need for a seasonal worker scheme in the interim.
Co-chaired by then-Defra Secretary George Eustice and the University of Lincoln’s Prof Simon Pearson, it concluded that automation is unlikely to be a silver bullet and added that, in most cases, its true potential will be realised in the “medium-to-long-term”.
The Review of Automation in Horticulture supported the wider aim of reducing the reliance on migrant workers through the increased use of technologies such as packhouse automation, AI-enabled robots and autonomous guided vehicles.
And having heard from growers, academics, tech experts and stakeholders, including the NFU, during a six-month period, it found that while businesses needed more confdence to invest, three areas were already ‘widely available for mass adoption’.
This ‘frst wave’ ran to optimised production systems such as improved infrastructure, canopy architecture and varieties; packhouse automation for ‘low variation tasks’ and feld rigs to increase harvest automation. These, the review found, ofered ‘minor’ labour savings overall, but could ‘increase worker productivity by reducing the burden of tasks’.
Three other ‘technology clusters’
become incredibly productive, efcient and sustainable over many decades”.
But he adds: “The review also lays bare that the technologies to replace most manual roles that require the dexterity of the human hand are simply not available yet.
“It reinforces the need for growers to have access to labour while they invest and technology develops. The NFU has always said there needs to be a more viable solution to the labour shortages growers currently face and we strongly agree with the recommendation for a long-term seasonal workers scheme to stabilise workforce pressures.”
Other review recommendations included closer working between government and the sector to fasttrack proven technologies, working groups to share novel harvesting practices and further investment in the sector’s skills pipeline.
Defra should consider launching a robotic crop harvester mission for projects caught in the ‘valley of death’, and a sector-specifc review of the available fnancial and fscal support.
were longer-term propositions, with several systems at the prototype stage and some in trials seeking to scale what the review warned could be a ‘valley of death’ for projects, due to the capital needed for fnal development.
While that valley may have yawned a little wider since the team conducted its scan of the tech landscape, it found the most potential in this category, which included autonomous robot harvesting; augmented work where robots or AI collaborate with humans; and autonomous crop protection, monitoring and forecasting.
However, the biggest labour savings, in autonomous harvesting were said to be at least seven years away.
NFU chief horticulture adviser Lee Abbey says the exercise had confrmed “an innovative streak in British growers that has allowed them to
The report said current barriers included a lack of access to know-how and providers, the wide-ranging and sometimes fragmented nature of UK horticulture, and the specifc needs and complexities of particular crops.
Rural connectivity and the risks associated with trialling tech were also noted, along with the security and scale of production contracts, which the review said discouraged investment. This was especially the case when allied to difculties in raising capital, with existing grants often tailored to creating jobs rather than reducing them.
While a subsequent announcement of £12.5 million of government funding for automation in the sector (see p7) will help there, solutions are, for some time, likely to be far more about the human touch than the robotic arm. P
“Robotics and automation are not likely to be the single solution that resolves all labour pressures. However, the review recommendations could have the power to transform labour productivity over the medium-to-long-term.”
The NFU has applauded the launch of a new initiative to unite the British potato industry and fll gaps left in the industry since the demise of AHDB Potatoes.
GB Potatoes is an organisation founded by growers and backed by industry, which aims to be a less
bureaucratic, more inclusive, and more appropriately funded successor to AHDB Potatoes. It will raise funds for its services through a voluntary membership subscription.
The founding growers started out in 2021 by asking fellow potato producers and stakeholders for their views on “what should come next?”.
From there, support and consensus around the establishment of a new, grower-led organisation in the potato
British Growers will assist with setting up the new association.
GB Potatoes will join 29 other businesses operating across the fresh produce sector, which currently make up the British Growers' membership. In addition, GB Potatoes will ensure good governance and accountability through the creation of a cross-industry governing body.
British Growers MD Lisa Eagles says: “British Growers is delighted to have aligned itself with a worthy organisation and are pleased that the GB Potatoes objectives associate so closely with British Growers' own, namely, to support the safeguarding of the UK horticultural sector.
"The British Growers' provision of shared experience and knowledge of setting up industry groups will allow the organisation to fulfl its own objectives of ensuring the future sustainability of the industry.”
sector grew. The group has always been clear that it is not seeking to re-invent the AHDB, but to facilitate mutual interest in fundamental research and provide independent industry representation.
Following the ofcial launch in October, NFU Potato Forum chair Tim Rooke said: “There have been crucial gaps left in the industry since the demise of AHDB Potatoes, such as a dedicated, sector-specifc voice for the broader industry and the coordination of research and development projects.
“Growers have been left questioning how these gaps will be flled and many will welcome this voluntary initiative to help address some of these gaps at this time of unprecedented challenge and uncertainty.”
The frst chair of GB Potatoes, Mark Taylor, believes the group will be an efective forum for industry collaboration and championing the great British potato.
“Our ambition is to bring together all corners of the potato supply chain to collaborate and beneft from cross-industry working, based around a voluntary levy,” he says.
“This launch couldn’t come at a more important time for the GB Potato industry. Working as a collective group must be the way forward if we are to understand and work through the current turbulent times.
“The potato industry respects the outcome of the AHDB levy payer ballot, but we cannot aford to look into a void. Action is
New
required now – and that’s what this new organisation brings. The industry needs leadership and a plan to move things on. We believe this proposal sets that in motion.”
He adds: “Whilst recognising different views from across the industry, I strongly encourage everyone to engage and get involved. The great British potato needs to be championed.”
According to the organisation’s Twitter account, which already has 400 followers, the GB Potatoes team have been working hard to manage incoming subscriptions in the weeks following its launch.
For more about GB Potatoes, please visit: gb-potatoes.co.uk or email: info@gb-potatoes.co.uk.
Mark Taylor, inaugural chair of GB Potatoes, brought the NFU Potato Forum up to date at its November meeting, outlining that GB Potatoes was one month into actively recruiting members and was seeking to appoint its governing board, reports Tom Sales.
That, he said would comprise seven growers across the pre-pack, processing, seed and ware and bag market, and six members of trade associations; two from the fresh sector, two from processing and two with a seed involvement. Any interested growers or supply chain colleagues are encouraged to put themselves forward.
Given time, a CEO role will be fully scoped to lead the organisation once it’s fully established, but initially, the chair will oversee the board.
Mr Taylor said GB Potatoes would start with a clear focus and that its structure would include sub-committees and forums to bring in industry experts and mutual interest groups that progress project ideas and feedback into the board.
“We want to keep focused and deliver against our promises,” Mr Taylor told the forum. “We want to deliver a ordable, accountable leadership and it has to demonstrate value. That’s the acid test, to ensure it adds value to your business.”
He said the organisation aimed to become the primary point of contact for the industry and would defend its interests, enable collaboration and partnerships, horizon scan for upcoming issues, and provide a forum to share knowledge.
“One thing we will not be is a talking shop,” he said. "Lobbying activity on behalf of the industry to ensure our 'seat at the table’ will be a key activity and it is recognised that this is required more now than ever before."
Among early priorities were further work on blight, PCN, aphids and storage, and re-establishing international seed trade. Direct involvement in R&D was not said to be in the scope currently, although Mr Taylor said it could be supported through the sub-committee system for those interested in specific areas of work, and the facilitation of syndicates would be a key role.
Growers sign up as individuals at £10/ha, which Mr Taylor said was 22% of the equivalent AHDB rate. Packers, processors and merchants will pay 10p/tonne, while ‘associate members’, who provide services to the sector, will pay on a sliding scale ranging from £250 to £4,000 based on turnover.
“We will not be operating on a big budget, and if we get good sign-up subscriptions they could potentially be less in future years,” Mr Taylor said. To ensure members receive value, it was expected that outputs from GB Potatoes’ work would be protected by members-only access to its website in the future.
“This launch couldn’t come at a more important time for the industry. Working as a collective group must be the way forward.”
Mark Taylor GB Potatoes chair
We grow 600 acres of potatoes, mostly Taurus Brooke for crisping, and Innovator and Pentland Dell for McCain. The farm also grows wheat, oats for Quakers and oilseed rape.
I work in partnership with my brother, Stephen, which works very well. When we are harvesting, he drives the harvester, and I never move out of the yard. We usually start around 10 September and it takes us to the end of October.
During most of that time period, we never meet up, but we still speak to each other about 30 times a day!
My son Jonathan is now also part of the business. He is production manager for a seed potato company, but works on the farm when we are lifting and when we need help at weekends.
There is one full-time member of staff and I also have two people who I employ on a regular basis throughout the year. They are
freelance and have other jobs, but when I need them, they come to me.
We also have people who come for the potato harvest, the majority of whom are local. We used to have a lot of Latvian and Polish workers, but now I rely mostly on locals. I am nearly managing with what I have around here locally, but a lot of them are over 60 – it’s a shame, but the workforce is getting older with me.
“About 40% of the land is good enough for potatoes. It needs a good medium loam with about 10 inches of good soil on it and decent drainage – but finding that isn’t easy”
about nine years, but it had got so badly dilapidated that no one would spend any money on it and the owner came up to me one day and asked if we wanted to buy it.
So, we did and have spent time and money to get it back to how we want it.
Around here about 40% of the land is good enough for potatoes. It needs a medium loam with about 10 inches of good soil on it and decent drainage –but finding that isn’t easy, so we are often planting on stoney, slightly less deep soil and removing the stones.
We have just bought a huge potato store on an old aerodrome which holds 4,500 tonnes. We had been renting it for
It’s got a big grading area, so when we get to mid-October and it’s not pleasant outside it’s ok, because the whole system is under cover for us to grade.
We also have four stores at my farm here in Stonegrave, for about 3,000 tonnes, another storage at Wombleton, holding about 2,000 tonnes, and then where Jonathan is near York holds 1,500 tonnes in a storage facility.
That’s good, because we have now taken land around the York area, but it was too long a haul to bring it all back here as we are about 20 miles from York, but John is only four miles, so it works well.
Location: Stonegrave, Yorkshire
Crop: Potatoes
Representing the business: Tim Rooke, partner in the business
Tim Rooke is a third generation farmer who grows potatoes in Yorkshire. He farms in partnership with his brother, Stephen, and has a mixture of tenanted and owned farms.
“My father came over from East Riding 60 years ago to a tenanted farm in Nunnington and after three years he also took on the tenancy of this farm in Stonegrave and began to grow 30-40 acres of potatoes,” says Tim.
“When I left school, I started my own potato business where I was renting land from neighbouring farms, but I was still also working for my father. When my dad’s health deteriorated, my areas of potatoes were amalgamated into the main farm.”
The Rooke family was growing for McCain at Scarborough, for the bag trade and when a factory was built by Cadbury to make Smash, they supplied that too. They also did crisping for United Biscuits, which is now KP.
Tim says: “We developed and started buying land and now grow about 600 acres of potatoes – about 200 on our land, at the original familyowned farm – and at a farm we rent from the church near York. We also grow on land we bought in Wombleton, Fadmoor and Harome.
“We rent 400 acres from other farmers to grow potatoes. We grow only for processing, and we grow for McCain, Walkers, Seabrook at Bradford, Tayto at Scunthorpe, and Burt’s Crisps.”
How have you dealt with sprout suppression in the past couple of years?
I took over as Potato Forum chairman last March and we have been campaigning for ages to get DMN approved for sprout suppressant in storage. It was approved on the Continent and not here. The only way to stop sprouting in store was mint oil or orange oil since we lost CICP and we were trying everything, as well as applying Maleic hydrazide (MH).
But this year, we weren’t able to apply MH because the weather was dry and it stresses the crop and farmers didn’t want to put it on crops that were doing well just to survive. I felt we were on the edge of a huge problem because we didn’t know how much the mint or orange oil was preventing sprouting or whether it was down to the MH. As we hadn’t been able to apply the MH, we didn’t know where we would be by this time next year.
At a meeting of potato stakeholders, at which I represented the NFU, we decided to send a letter stating our case for DMN and three weeks later it was approved – not saying it was us or if it was just a coincidence – but it was very reassuring. We have used it everywhere and it seems like it’s working fne.
What’s your routine once the potatoes have been harvested? We are always on deadlines, and the
potatoes have to leave the farm early in the morning to get to the factories. We work most Sundays because their week starts on a Monday, so we are busy from Sunday to Wednesday and then on Thursday and Friday it tapers of, we don’t do much on a Saturday, then start again on the Sunday.
What has been the biggest issue you have faced this season?
The lack of irrigation is a big problem. Being down the east side of Yorkshire, we don’t get that much water, about 25-26 inches a year, and I can’t get much irrigation licensed for this area because we sit on top of the Ness Aquifer and they are very restrictive on boreholes going through the aquifer fow in case it disrupts it.
We do have river licences – I have seven of them – but this year, we didn’t have enough water. We planted the crop perfectly in April – we start planting about 1 April and try to get it all in by 1 May. This year it went to plan, we had loads of rain and everything emerged, and was looking absolutely perfect up to the second week in June and then it never rained again.
So, from the second week in June, we started irrigating until the end of June and then I was stopped on all licences because there was not enough water in the rivers. Then that’s it, we weren’t
able to restart irrigating later in the summer because, like everywhere else in the country, it didn’t rain. We never had more than 6ml of rain from the second week of June right up to the second week of September.
What was the result of the dry summer?
It decimated the crop. I am about 25% down on yield. Anything that was irrigated is around 5% down, but I only irrigate about 20% of my crop, so I’m probably missing about 2,500 tonnes. It’s the same for everyone. If you have irrigated you are maybe not too bad, but irrigation in itself is a very expensive exercise.
How has this afected the quality of the potatoes?
We grow very good potatoes here, but size has defnitely sufered. When I grow for Walkers, the contract is based on about 16 tonnes to the acre, because the potatoes are smaller for crisping. If I grow for McCain it’s based on about 20 tonnes to the acre because they want bigger potatoes which are turned into fries for McDonalds. To achieve something that big has been hard to do without the water, so my McCain crop has really sufered because we haven’t been able to get any size.
It’s the same for most growers. The problem is you will have farmers
RIGHT: Potato felds on the Rooke farm in the summer
BELOW: Tim says competition from other crops is making fnding land more difcult
Meet the grower
contracted at 20 tonnes to the acre who will only have 15. So, things will get tight and at the end of the season, there could well be a shortage.
In this area, the majority, 95%, are contracted so we are all working on a price that was agreed last year, so it isn’t good for farmers. McCain does a yearly indexation which picks up the price of inputs on 1 November; it looks at everything: fertiliser, fuel, labour, rents, sprays, electricity. They brought a price out in mid-December last year and as soon as they do this, everyone else follows, so prices are all pretty similar. We did get a good price increase, but it was never enough and then the Ukraine war kicked of in March and so the indexation they had done in November was skewed.
We had fertiliser that went up from November to when we were buying it in the spring by about 30%, fuel went from 73p a litre for red diesel to £1.10, so a 40% increase – everything went skyward.
Between planting and harvest there have been small increments of extra money put on the contract – £5 a tonne – but you can imagine it probably needs to be nearer £20.
Everyone was caught out by events this year. Farmers then needed one of the best harvests ever to make any money out of potatoes and we had the worst harvest, so it’s a doublewhammy – we’ve been hit by the war in Ukraine and then with a drought.
for potato growers?
The problem we have is with money and interest rates and risk. Potato farmers are saying that they are not being paid enough for the crop, and also that they are not being paid enough for risk. I think potato growing will fall. Unlike many horticulture growers, we do have the option of moving out of the sector and growing something else.
There are not many potato growers who are just potato growers, they are farmers who grow potatoes. You can’t grow potatoes on land more than every fve to six years, so if you grow 1,000 acres of potatoes then potentially you need about 6,000 acres of land.
But landowners are now looking to plant higher value crops rather than potatoes, so I have lost 30% of my rented land to other crops. There will never be a time when we don’t grow potatoes, it’s what we do, but the worry is that next year, there won’t be enough land to grow the same number of potatoes as this year and some potato growers will decide to grow wheat or oilseed rape instead, as the prices for these are much higher. There are certainly going to be tough times ahead.
Climate change is an important issue at the moment. What have you been able to do on the farm to help the environment?
The big store on the aerodrome doesn’t have any electricity, so we are
running that on solar panels and batteries and a generator. It’s by far the cheapest way to run a potato store, especially in these times of rising costs. It makes us more efcient as well. We have things on timers, so we use the electricity as efciently as possible.
We have also taken nearly 120-30 acres of land out of production to go into Level 2 Stewardship with wildfowers.
It was unproductive land and we sow in the spring with diferent wildfower mixes and have also sown corn that we don’t harvest to feed the birds through the winters, so about a tenth of the farm is put down to that. And also, we put strips around the felds and by watercourses which are left for wildfowers and they attract birds and pollinators. They look lovely in the summer.
We need to do a certain amount to reduce our carbon footprint and also, companies like Walkers and McCain want to see that we are doing what we can for the environment.
Finally, how are you fnding your role as chair of the Potato Forum? I have thoroughly enjoyed this frst year of being the chair.
I have always been involved with potatoes and I joined the forum fve or six years ago and have always been quite vocal, a doer. I am passionate about it because it’s what we do and if we don’t try to change things, then no-one will. Now with the demise of AHDB there are very few people looking after potatoes so the forum is more important than ever now. P
Meet the grower
“I have lost 30% of my rented land to other crops. The worry is that next year, there won’t be enough land to grow the same number of potatoes as this year”White, Groceries Code Adjudicator
It doesn’t take an expert to tell you that there is a crisis unfolding across the grocery sector. Suppliers of all shapes and sizes are worried about whether and how they will be able to survive the impact of rising costs.
As the Groceries Code Adjudicator, I’m the UK regulator who ensures that the 14 largest grocery retailers (‘Retailers’) treat their direct suppliers lawfully and fairly and comply with the Groceries Supply Code of Practice (the Code). The Code covers all who supply the Retailers directly (so not through a third party or wholesaler) regardless of where you are based. I work with the Code Compliance Officer (CCO) at each Retailer who is responsible for ensuring that their business complies with the Code and can help you resolve any Code-related issues you have.
As a direct supplier, the price you agree to supply a Retailer is not covered by the Code, so I can’t tell them to pay more for your produce. However, I am working to ensure that suppliers of all sizes are treated fairly and lawfully during the negotiation process. Earlier this year, I published my Seven Golden Rules, which lay out the best practice for managing the process, and I am working with all the Retailers to ensure they are following the rules.
I am particularly concerned about stories I have heard of Retailers delaying responses to cost price increase (CPI) requests or the implementation of an agreed price rise. As growing cycles can’t be delayed in response, suppliers have
no certainty until the negotiations are completed and implemented. This seems to me to be a transfer of excessive risk which, coupled with unrealistic demands from buyers, could see more suppliers simply go out of business. This cannot be good for the long term – for suppliers, retailers or the consumer.
But this isn’t the only issue I am hearing about. I am concerned about an increase in de-lists driven by both unsuccessful CPI negotiations and Retailers conducting range reviews as
“The sector is in a difficult moment and I know many of you are feeling the strain. By working together, you can help me to help you and suppliers across the sector”
they respond to rising prices and changing consumer behaviour. While the Code allows de-lists for genuine commercial reasons, Retailers must meet their Code duties, including providing reasonable notice, allowing the decision to be reviewed by a senior buyer and allowing the supplier to meet the CCO to discuss the decision.
I have also heard about difficulties that suppliers are having with buyers. Inexperienced buyers who are unwilling to visit their suppliers and don’t know when their produce is harvested is an ongoing issue. And it’s important that buyers communicate clearly and professionally with suppliers, particularly given the pressures that everyone is facing. I am speaking to all of the Retailers about how they educate and support inexperienced buyers and ensure they use the right tone in negotiations.
Of course, there are too many issues affecting suppliers for inclusion in this article, and I am keen to hear about all Code-related issues that you are facing with any of the 14 Retailers. The information you provide is vital for helping me to improve how the Retailers are treating suppliers.
When you make me aware of a problem, I will raise it directly with the CCO while protecting your confidentiality. I will ask them to investigate and report back and confirm how they have or will resolve it. I know suppliers are worried about retribution by a Retailer, but I never reveal supplier names or even the products in question. Instead, I aggregate information to conceal which suppliers have raised concerns. If you choose to speak to one of the CCOs about an issue, they have all publicly agreed to protect your confidentiality unless you allow them to reveal your information.
The sector is in a difficult moment and I know many of you are feeling the strain. By working together, you can help me to help you and suppliers across the sector.
I am happy to speak to you however you feel most comfortable. You can share information with my team by email at enquiries@ groceriescode.gov.uk or by calling 0207 215 6537. If you want to speak face to face, please email my team to arrange a meeting. Otherwise, you can use my anonymous reporting platform – tellthegca. co.uk/frontpage – whenever is convenient for you.
communication from the outset by retailers about the process and how long it will take.
and prioritisation, of the possible greater impact on smaller suppliers.
for buyers from colleagues who have experience of dealing with CPI requests.
asking for the specifc information from suppliers that is needed to make a CPI decision.
communication of the outcome, so there can be no grey areas.
automatic de-lists or fxed de-list notice periods following CPI negotiations.
buyers about abiding by competition law, for example, never asking suppliers about other retailers’ plans or retail prices.
I've always enjoyed sports but this is now my main focus. I've been doing this for 20 years now despite a few major injuries. I'm fortunate to live near Bedgebury Forest and meet up with a small group of friends every week, whatever the weather and even in the dark of winter. I'm not sure if it is the appeal of the exercise, the competitive banter or the warmth of the pub afterwards which keeps me going...
As of last weekend it looks like I'm going to struggle to live without my glasses. People may now see me wearing them all the time, not just peering over them at meetings...
I’m an avid listener of podcasts, and also music. I have a long drive to and from work each day, so find it a great way to catch up on sport (normally rugby), current a airs (politics has been quite interesting recently) and anything else that takes my fancy.
