I hope you have all had a great summer and are ready for the food sector’s golden quarter as the industry now turns to Christmas.

2023 has already been another interesting year for the food sector with change a constant, but in the UK Food Valley I sense a quiet optimism as many great projects are announced. Most of these projects are responding to new opportunities, whether in the growth in demand for fish production, the growth in plant proteins or the continued rise in demand for cold storage and food and drink innovations. Whatever the trend, it is essential we embrace opportunities.

On 6th September we led a delegation of over a dozen leaders from our Greater Lincolnshire Food Board and UK Food Valley team to Whole Foods in London to observe what this food retailer relatively new in the UK is doing and how they see the future of our sector evolving. During a fascinating visit we discussed the changes Whole Foods are seeing in customers’ needs, looked at the opportunities for new suppliers in supplying the business and had a tour of their store on Fulham Broadway.

Whole Foods are now owned by Amazon and whilst they currently only have seven stores in the UK, globally they have 550 stores across the UK, Canada and USA and a growing online presence.

Whole Foods are keen to follow up with our food businesses and we are planning to bring their buying team, headed by Jade Hoai, out to Lincolnshire to meet producers. If you would like to be involved, please contact the UK Food Valley team so we can link you into the visit.

Later the same day, we visited Portcullis House at the House of Commons to debate how to grow our food chain with local MPs and members of the Labour and Conservative parties. Hosted by Matt Warman MP for Boston, we were also joined by Martin Vickers MP for Grimsby, George Eustice MP, former DEFRA Secretary of State, and Daniel Zeichner MP, Labour Shadow Minister for Agriculture. Both George and Daniel had also visited Lincolnshire in July to talk to us about the food chain and the role of technology in its future growth.

Our discussions focused on the agricultural supply base, which James Dallas of Openfield and Scott Page of the NFU lead on. Duncan Worth of AH Worth and Rob Smith of Danish Crown discussed added value food processing and the supply chain. Jonathan Oldfied of Moy Poark and Professor Simon Pearson of LIAT spoke about innovation, workforce supply and skills.

Discussion with the MPs was very positive, and they praised the long-term commitment Lincolnshire had made to grow its food sector and to support this with investment by industry alongside the academic and public sectors.

I think we all came away from Parliament pleased that the politicians we met with were clearly knowledgeable about the pressures facing our industry, but also recognised that it is a time of great change for politics and our sector.  We will continue to promote a pro-growth agenda with political leaders at regional and national level and would welcome any input you want to provide on the challenges and opportunities you want us to raise as we continue this engagement.

Regionally we are also working with partners across the Midlands Engine to produce a Food White Paper which will set out an ambitious growth agenda for the Midlands food chain from the Welsh border across to the Lincolnshire coast.

On the same day as we visited Whole Foods and Parliament, it was announced that major industry event Potato Days will be coming to Nocton near Lincoln in September 2024.  This is the first time this international event which is well established in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France is coming to the UK and we are thrilled that the Dyson Farming site at Nocton has been selected as the host for this inaugural event.

We are expecting over 5,000 business visitors from the UK and Europe and over 100 trade stands at this event over two days. The UK Food Valley, University of Lincoln and Dyson Farming will be collaborating to offer a programme of seminars and workshops on innovation.  This will provide a fantastic showcase for Greater Lincolnshire and the world class food industry we have in the UK Food Valley.  Watch out for more details over the next few months and we would encourage you all to get involved in what promises to be a world class event.

On our website you can find details of some major new funding opportunities for innovation. The UK Food Valley is very successful in securing collaborative R&D with industry to deliver agriculture and food chain technologies, and to keep this going we need to ensure we all look at these opportunities to bid.  If you are interested in applying, but don’t know how to bid for a project or who to talk to, please do get in touch with the UK Food Valley team and we will make sure you are linked up with suitable partners.

We clearly have another extraordinary year ahead of us in the UK Food Valley and I am grateful for the ongoing support and collaboration with partners across industry, academia, and government.  On that note, I would like to encourage you all to attend the LEP Conference on 7th November at the EPIC Centre, full details of which can be found here.  This annual event is now the largest business conference in Greater Lincolnshire and this year we will be focusing on the future of the workforce, a topic none of us in the food chain can afford to ignore, and will be showcasing some incredible automation, digital and AI technologies alongside expert panels and keynotes.