Multi-award-winning entrepreneur Sarah Louise Fairburn is passionate about high quality and sustainable food, drink, and farming, and is the founder of Imp & Maker; gourmet food and drink hamper experiences. For many years, Sarah Louise led one of the UK’s fastest ever-growing egg packers and producers to success, and is the Chair of the Greater Lincolnshire Food Board, Deputy Chair of the Greater Lincolnshire LEP, Non-Executive director of the Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce, and is the LEP lead on the internationally important UK Food Valley.
Here in Lincolnshire we have an international reputation for growing and processing high-quality food, and we’re home to one of the largest concentrations of agriculture, food manufacturing, storage and distribution in Europe. Already responsible for producing one-eighth of England’s food, our UK leading food sector is now moving at pace to position Greater Lincolnshire at the heart of a global top 10 food production cluster, by pioneering sustainability through innovation.
Our UK Food Valley programme is not just about food businesses. It brings together the food industry with valuable food supply chains, tech suppliers, local and national government and academia with strong links to industry. The opportunities are stark and include significant further collaboration with other industries to not only strengthen the food sector but our whole economy. Bringing together marketeers, brand experts, photographers, ecommerce and digital businesses as well as solicitors, and linguists to name but a few. We are also eager to connect more with our health sector as the correlation with diet and health outcomes is so significant and if the balance is right could significantly help our health services and nation too!!!
We want to create actions that align with our industry needs, including new routes to market, and working more closely with retailers and organisations such as the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD). Collaboration is key.
Meanwhile the facts and figures tell their own story. Greater Lincolnshire grows 30% of the nation's vegetables and produces 18% of the poultry, and our total agricultural output alone in 2019 topped £2bn; a massive 11% of England’s total agri-food output.
Our strengths in farming are equally mirrored by our food processing sector. Not only are we the UK’s largest fish processing cluster, we’re at the centre of the UK’s fresh produce industry, and we’re home to major arable, poultry and meat processors across our area, making Greater Lincolnshire strategically important to the UK's food supply.
Greater Lincolnshire has embraced the trend for convenience prepared food and is now home to large businesses which are at the forefront of a revolution in how people buy and consume food.
A massive 18% of our total workforce is employed in agriculture, food processing, food wholesaling, and distribution - a concentration five times higher than the UK average. Spalding alone dispatches over 1,200 lorry loads of food into the supply chain each day which I think is incredible!
The last five years have seen significant investment in agri-food R&D and innovation infrastructure in Greater Lincolnshire with the creation of the Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology, the growth of the National Centre for Food Manufacturing, the development of an Institute of Technology focused on higher level agri-food skills, and the development of Bishop Burton’s Riseholme Showground campus.
And our food industry is made up of over 6,000 companies, from SMEs to some of the world’s largest food businesses. Whilst agriculture is dominated by SMEs, the rest of the food chain has a diverse mix from start-ups and specialist micro producers to multi-nationals with thousands of employees. We have over 70 large food producers, and now over half of them are part of large international companies. The sector is dynamic and knowledge led with a strong record of investment in innovation and skills.
What we're creating here is something that is nationally and internationally significant.
This is THE place to have a food business, and we're looking to make sure that all our food businesses are fit for the future, and working hard towards net zero food supply chains. Recognising the many challenges for growers, suppliers and producers, collaboratively we have the solutions located here. I'm very excited about the UK Food Valley because for me food is all about product development and innovation, and this is where things can really happen. Everything from the start of the development right through to the finished product going into retail or e-commerce, this can take place all under one roof and position our food cluster as a world-class investment location.
I hope you can join us on 2nd November at the Lincolnshire Showground for the launch alongside the annual LEP Conference by registering to secure your place. See you in November!
Sarah Louise Fairburn
Vice Chair, Greater Lincolnshire LEP, Chair, Greater Lincolnshire LEP Food Board, CEO & Founder, Imp & Maker
