The Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) is consulting levy payers on a recommendation to keep its levies unchanged from the existing 2012-13 rates.

AHDB chief executive Tom Taylor said: “Our strategies are all about helping to make our levy payers’ businesses more competitive and sustainable, as well as being as efficient as we can be ourselves in how we undertake this work.

“There is clear evidence that more efficient businesses are more environmentally and economically sustainable. The work we do to improve business margins and productivity is also helping to deliver the environmental goods expected from agriculture and horticulture.

“Our corporate plan summarises how we propose to make a difference – on areas such as soils… export market development, in schools and with skills in the industry.”

As the work to deliver the plan is funded by statutory levies paid by farmers and growers and others in the supply chain, these levy rates must be approved annually by DEFRA and the devolved administration ministers.

The AHDB board will consider the consultation responses at its meeting on 29 January 2013 before submitting its final corporate plan, including recommended levy rates, to UK ministers. The organisation was formed in 2008 and in 2010 received potato industry backing to bring in a series of three “little and often” levy increases to go towards helping growers meet the challenges ahead. Levies rose by three per cent last year but there were no other changes to the other sectors including horticulture and the AHDB levy remained at 0.5 per cent of sales turnover.

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