This week’s confirmation that Regional Development Agencies are going to be axed doesn’t come as a surprise, but it is sad news for everybody involved in food production.

The RDAs carry out invaluable work in supporting, promoting and funding businesses in their particular regions, and they can list many success stories.

We don’t yet know what the Local Enterprise Partnerships’ role will entail, how much funding they will receive or how they will interact with business and industry.

But the one thing we can presume is they will have a radically smaller budget than the RDAs enjoyed.

It is good to see that key local bodies such as the South East Food Group Partnership and Regional Food Group for Yorkshire and Humber have already taken steps to secure their futures.

But Henriette Reinders’ comment that there will be “no funding from government for horticulture” in her region from next month says it all really.

We had been led to believe the new government would be more favourable towards food production than the last, but we can be sure that will not include giving over more money.

At the moment there is nothing but confusion as everybody involved tries to understand what it all means.

The question is: are the LEPs just another incarnation of the RDAs, and if so, what is the point of replacing them? Isn’t that in itself going to cost money?

Let’s hope this isn’t just another case of change for change’s sake.