The beef and lamb, cereals and oilseeds, dairy and pork sector councils of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) have published their levy spending plans.
The plans have been published as part of a commitment to outline how the levy paid by AHDB members will be invested over the next five years.
Sector councils revealed their priorities to all levy payers at the ‘Delivering the Future of Farming’ online event today (November 10) and the full plans are now available on the AHDB website.
The plans are the culmination of the responses provided to the sector councils through AHDB’s ‘Shape the Future’ campaign, which gave levy payers the chance to say what work should be carried out by AHDB on their behalf.
Sector councils have since been meeting during the summer and autumn to make funding decisions based on that feedback.
AHDB’s CEO, Tim Rycroft, said: “This is an important milestone in our progress towards delivering our promise to put levy payers at the heart of all we do.
“The outcome of the last few months allows us to have a strong understanding of what our farmers and processors believe will benefit them most in terms of the work we do.
“The decisions that have been taken by our sector councils also take into consideration added financial pressures faced by all four sectors, in this difficult economic climate.
“AHDB are looking to continue building on the positive engagement this has produced and the sector councils as well as AHDB’s senior team will be attending many events over the coming months to ensure we talk and listen directly to levy payers,” he concluded.
Beef and lamb
The beef and lamb sector council has refocused activities around three themes that support the overall reputation of the sector which are:
- Exports (market access, trade shows, international marketing);
- Marketing (We Eat Balanced, education);
- Insight and evidence (market intelligence, animal health and welfare, environment, genetics).
Cereals and oilseeds
For cereals and oilseeds, work in the following areas will be the sector’s priorities:
- Trusted variety and product testing, including a major review of recommended lists;
- Independent, practical research and market intelligence, including a need to re-engage farmers in research decisions made by AHDB;
- Work across the supply chain, for example the current ongoing work to investigate the potential benefits of introducing a digital grain passport.
Dairy
Dairy will now refocus activities around three themes:
- Promoting the sectors reputation at home and abroad (consumer advertising, consumer education, reputational defence, exports);
- Practical support for farmers;
- Data and evidence to underpin dairy’s reputation (centred on animal health and welfare, environment and genetics/genomics).
Pork
For pork, AHDB’s work will be prioritised on the following:
- Exports, with a focus on identifying lucrative markets and optimising access for all cuts;
- Marketing, with the aim of inspiring shoppers to choose pork for both home cooking and eating out;
- Reputation, including aspects of AHDB’s work on: education; animal health and welfare; the environment; and data and evidence.
