The horticulture and potatoes board of the UK trade association NFU (National Farmers' Union) has laid out its lobbying priorities for 2012.
Top priorities include building stronger supply chain relationships and establishing a supply chain adjudicator; improving administration of the producer organisation scheme; finding a successor to the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS) after 2013; making sure that Defra's Sustainable Growing Media Task Force acknowledges the need for responsibly sourced inputs; and concluding the Agricultural Wages Board debate.
The board's chairman, Sarah Dawson, admitted the size of the task ahead. 'If we want to turn around our declining self-sufficiency in fruit and vegetable production and continue to provide consumers with the high quality, home-grown fruit and vegetables that they demand, it's vital that growers are given the right signals to encourage them to invest for the future,' she said.
The board is due to visit Brussels in the spring to meet several European Commission officials responsible for crop protection, the Fruit and Vegetable Aid regime, producer organisation audits and CAP reform.
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