A new market development team at the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) will help British producers to compete in global markets and explore export opportunities.
There is “massive demand” for British products overseas and the ambition for UK fresh produce exports “has to be bigger”, according to the new AHDB chief executive Jane King, who has implemented the new team as part of the ongoing AHDB restructure.
Headed up by current sector director for beef and lamb, Nick Allen, the new team will scope out opportunities for British businesses and pass on information to levy payers.
“There is massive demand for British products overseas, there really is. And some of that is because we can prove quality and good environmental credentials. So there is definitely a pull,” King said in an exclusive interview with FPJ.
“The new market development team will be responsible for looking at how we grow our markets both domestically and overseas. Nick has a lot of experience in market development work both in the UK supply chain, but also in how we develop markets overseas.
“There are big opportunities in both because of the population growth at home and globally, increasing affluence in certain parts of the world, and there is a big demand in things that we can produce here.”
On exports, the team will work alongside the government to develop new markets, as a big part of Defra’s Food and Farming Plan is to increase exports. In the UK, it will focus on encouraging British consumers to value British produce.
“At home, there’s still a lot of work around, how do we get British consumers more energised around the quality of British food, savouring it, valuing it, and looking for it as a first-choice option when they go into the supermarket,” said King.
She said AHDB’s role will be to create a “compelling picture of what the future could hold and how to get there” for producers whose struggle against price deflation may prevent them from planning for the long-term.
“When prices are this depressed and there is a lot of hardship going on, it’s very hard for levy payers in certain sectors to see the wood for the trees. It’s all about survival,” she said.
“Some of these grand ideas about going into China and capitalising on some of these foreign markets seems a long way away. But I think we have to look at exports in fresh produce. We need to equip our levy payers with much more information about what everyone else is up to, and really inspire everybody to say, actually, that’s an area where we excel, why aren’t we competing in that space.”
The new team will begin work in early September, when the wider AHDB begins its transition to “functional working”. This will primarily consist of greater knowledge exchange between teams who previously worked for just one sector, as well as encouraging grower uptake of the AHDB’s market intelligence service, and a focus on developing new markets.
Last year, the AHDB sent its first food and agriculture counsellor to China to help develop the Chinese market for British producers. Karen Morgan is based in Beijing and is primarily funded by AHDB levy payers, with some support from government. King told FPJ there is scope for a bigger team in China, as well as possibly basing representatives in other strategic global markets.
Full interview with Jane King coming soon in FPJ.
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