Fears for future of food and farms

YORKSHIRE’S food and farming industries will be unable to compete on a national or international level if left in the hands of Local Enterprise Partnerships, it has been claimed.

Top food and drinks experts said a Yorkshire-wide approach to the handling of support and promotion of the region’s food is essential if it is to be marketed and sold to a wider audience.

Yorkshire produces 14 per cent of the country’s food and drink and the region is the largest food and drink producer in the UK.

But a range of high-profile food and business experts have told the Yorkshire Post that a pan-Yorkshire approach must be stay in the face of cutbacks in public spending if the sector is to stand a chance in wider markets.

Jonathan Knight, chief executive of the Regional Food Group for Yorkshire and Humber, is a strong-advocate of retaining a region-wide approach and has been involved in debates with officials at Defra and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) on the issue.

He said: “Yorkshire is a major employer in the food and drink sector and the value it lends to agriculture, businesses and tourism means you are looking at around 1.5m people involved in it. It is critical to the success of these areas that they enjoy health and have the ability to sustain itself.

“The country will have to produce somewhere between four to eight times the amount of food we are doing at the moment in 20 years time. This is a huge challenge.

“The concern is that if this is left to the LEPs that these business will not get the focus they need.

“We will be present at the International Food Exhibition in March and have been in Paris, Hong Kong, Shanghai and the Gulf Food Festival – places where we have been waving a big flag for Yorkshire.

“I am not convinced this would happen if things are diluted down to LEP level.”

Mr Knight and his organisation have been instrumental in securing high-profile deals for Yorkshire producers, as well as helping food such as Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb obtain Protected Designation of Origin Status from the European Union.

Simon Young, director of Montpelier Chartered Accountants, agrees and has questioned whether scrapping a region-wide approach would be cost-effective in the face of cuts.

“Yorkshire’s economy is as large as Republic of Ireland’s and the region is home to more people than Scotland. If this was all to be split down to Leeds or Sheffield it will just look totally unfocused.

“Often companies will need to source part of their product from other parts of the region – a Leeds business might need something from the Hull area.

“Without a pan-Yorkshire approach you are likely to see overall running costs escalate. You will have 10 LEPs with 10 budgets and everything is going to be duplicated.

“Yorkshire is a brand and people know about it. They might know about Sheffield or Leeds but they might not necessarily know about Wharfedale.“

Meanwhile Yorkshire television chef Brian Turner said the profile of Yorkshire food had risen dramatically in the past few years and this work should continue.

“I am used to having to go to the likes of France to find a product,” he said. “Now we can find it 10 miles down the road.”