An Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) proposal to freeze levy rates for the second year running has been approved by UK ministers.
The decision to hold 2014-15 levy rates for all industry sectors at the same level as last year was one of the recommendations made by the levy board in its 2014/17 Corporate Plan.
This went to a six-week stakeholder consultation before being formally agreed by ministers from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish governments prior to last week’s meeting of the AHDB Board.
“The decision not to change levy rates reflects industry concerns caused by one of the most difficult years for farming in over a decade,” said AHDB chief executive Tom Taylor.
“It is the board’s view that the forecast levy income, supplemented with reserves where necessary, will be sufficient to fund AHDB’s proposed work programmes for 2014/15,” he added.
The Corporate Plan sets out AHDB’s strategic priorities and commitments for the next three years. The business plans of its six operating divisions, including horticulture (HDC), and potatoes (Potato Council), sit behind the Corporate Plan, giving detail on what will be done to deliver the strategic priorities.
The plan's strategic priorities are to help levy payers:
- Improve productivity and cost management;
- Prevent and manage disease;
- Deliver market development;
- Understand and adapt to the regulatory and policy environment;
- And address labour market issues and skills development.
Recent achievements against these priorities have included:
- Delivering access to exciting new export markets, such as seed potatoes to Vietnam;
- Bringing the industry together to get behind a new AgriSkills Strategy, launched last autumn;
- And helping to shape the government’s breakthrough Agri-Tech Strategy as a lead partner behind the industry report Feeding the Future - Innovation Requirements for Primary Food Production in the UK to 2030.
AHDB will increase its own investment in research and development and on-farm knowledge transfer to just over £24 million in 2014/15 – a rise of nearly 9 per cent on last year.
The work scheduled to deliver the strategic 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 ministers.
The forecast total net levy for 2014/15 amounts to just over £56 million and is supplemented with grants and other income forecast to be in the region of £2.8 million. The funds raised from each commodity sector are ring-fenced to ensure they are used to the benefit of the sectors from which they were raised.
This includes£7.85 million for horticulture, and £6.2 million for potatoes.
The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board Order 2008 requires the AHDB to raise levies relating to each sector and for Defra and Devolved Administration Ministers to annually approve all proposed levy rates, including higher rates for late payment of levy.
AHDB is a non-departmental public body, and is managed as an independent organisation. Its purpose is to make the agriculture and horticulture industries more competitive and sustainable.
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