An Update from Sarah Louise Fairburn

I am immensely excited about the progress across our fantastic UK Food Valley, and so I'm extremely proud to take time out to share some of my aspirations for 2024 with you. 

2023 was tough for everyone, but like many in the food industry we found ways to innovate and grow.  Every business is totally dependent on its extraordinary staff, and I want to start by thanking my own wonderful work colleagues, along with everyone who works in our fantastic food industry or who supports this amazing sector - for your dedication, passion, and advocacy of Greater Lincolnshire food and drink in 2023, thank you.

This time last year, we were all hit with the highest energy costs anyone had ever seen along with rising interest rates as the Bank of England battled to stabilise inflation, which peaked at 19% for food in March, the highest in over 40 years.  Whilst interest rates are even higher now but may have peaked, thankfully energy costs and inflation have fallen, and this is now providing a little more certainty for households and businesses.  Whilst the challenges are not yet over, I think we can all agree that the future looks brighter than it did a few months ago.

Against this challenging macro-economic backdrop, it is even more remarkable to see how much investment, growth, and innovation the UK Food Valley continues to attract.  We remain committed to being a Top 10 Global Food Cluster and to deliver the investment, skills and innovation needed to achieve this. 

So, what are my highlights of 2023?

I think it’s important to start by highlighting what some of our businesses have been doing.  Across the sector we continue to see hundreds of small as well as many large strategic investments with the potential to radically increase industry capacity.

Some noteworthy investments in 2023 include many in the seafood sector with specialist cold store operator HSH, seafood processors Fastnet Fish and Seafish Processing Limited, and aquaculture business Flogro, all receiving grants from the Seafood Fund for projects at every stage of the seafood sector.  In late November another investor, Aquacultured, achieved planning permission for the UK’s first commercial on land salmon farm in Grimsby, a whopping £75m investment, with work due to start in the spring of 2024.  With over 60% of UK seafood being processed in the UK Food Valley it is excellent to see so many diverse investments to safeguard and grow this important part of our economy.

Back on land, Lincolnshire Farmer Andrew Ward has grown the UK’s first commercial crop of baked beans which were then canned at Princes in Long Sutton in autumn 2023, a really great example of the potential to replace imports with UK products.  And Dyson Farming is currently doubling the size of its glasshouses at Carrington which uses heat and CO2 from the onsite AD plant to grow fruit.

Bridge Farm in Spalding has spent 2023 preparing to launch Bridge Farm BioScience, spearheaded by Louise Motala who presented the journey through her engaging story at our LEP conference in November.  Bridge Farm BioScience is creating a world leading facility to grow specialist crops for processing on site to create ingredients for the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and nutrition markets.  Nearby, Naylor Flowers has built a new packhouse complex, and further development of the wider supply chain in South Lincolnshire is being supported by multiple projects in food logistics and storage.

Magnavale’s new 101,000 pallet cold store at Easton near Grantham is due to be completed by summer 2024 and will offer world-class leading energy efficiency, with robots in place to load and unload pallets at the rate of hundreds per hour.  Meanwhile Freshlinc in Spalding has invested in solar panels and Ventum wind turbines to reduce its carbon footprint, with many other companies making similar investments.

Also of note is international packaging business Coveris who in June opened a new plastic film recycling centre in Louth to divert single use food plastics from landfill, at the same time as delivering class leading reductions in the carbon footprint of food packaging.

Taken together they show a sector which is innovating and investing at scale, with more larger projects than we have ever seen and some truly transformational investments being made.

But it is not just industry which is growing.  In the autumn, the University of Lincoln and the Greater Lincolnshire LEP secured six major funding bids worth a massive £27m for agri-food technology projects to increase innovation and move us closer to net zero sustainable supply chains, and these will be transformational as we gather momentum through 2024.

These new awards recognise the very applied nature of the cluster’s innovation work and include funding for both industry and academic led projects, with virtually all the projects these funds support being focused on the importance of collaboration.  It also includes support for 60 new PhDs in AI technologies to support the sustainable development of agriculture.

We are also particularly pleased to be working with Innovate UK to establish the Eastern England Agri-Food Tech Launchpad with colleagues in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. This provides £7.5m over three years to support business-led projects focused on agri-tech and food technology.

In November the University of Lincoln was awarded the prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize for work on sustainability of the UK’s food and farming industries through innovations in research, education, and technology which is a fantastic recognition of their academic leadership in this sector.

We have also been active in representing the sector and met Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Mark Spencer MP, his Labour Shadow Daniel Zeichner MP and former DEFRA Secretary of State George Eustice MP on multiple occasions. In September I led a delegation of business leaders from the Food Board to meet MPs in Portcullis House in Westminster, hosted by Boston MP Matt Warman.  This meeting focused on the need to deliver enhanced UK food security and to deliver it sustainably through investment, skills and innovation.

Looking to the future, our Devolution Deal for Greater Lincolnshire was announced in the Autumn Statement and there is currently a public consultation which we urge you all to view and have your say.  It recognises the key part the UK Food Valley plays in future UK food security and clean energy supply.  DEFRA has committed to meet with the UK Food valley team annually to work with SMEs on sustainable food production.  We are very pleased to see the importance of the food sector placed centrally at the heart of our devolution process.

I know we will all continue to be extremely busy across this New Year as we move multiple projects to the next stage, not least as we have secured some major new events. In early September we are due to welcome the Potato Days UK event to the Dyson Farms site at Nocton, at which we are expecting over 100 trade stands and 5,000 visitors.  This builds on similar events in Europe and we are delighted to be hosting the first event in the UK next year.

So, what does the future hold and what opportunities and challenges will affect us in 2024? 

Of course, we don’t know for sure, but I am confident that in Greater Lincolnshire, our focus on food and energy security will continue to be highly relevant as none of us can live well unless we have the healthy, nutritious, sustainable food and energy supplies needed to drive responsible growth, to lead from the front, and to thrive.

This edition of the newsletter includes details of new farming grants coming in 2024 for work on agricultural land management and the environment, agricultural productivity, research and innovation and the adoption of new agricultural technology.  I urge you all to look into these grants to see if they are relevant to something you want to do in your business, and please do reach out to the UK Food Valley team if you want help to link up with those who can support you.

It only remains to wish you all a very happy and successful New Year, and I look forward to continuing our fantastic progress with you all across 2024.

Love

SLF x

To find a full round-up of the latest industry news please check out the UKFV Bulletin here. 

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