A recipe for growth, prosperity and sustainability
06 May 2020
We address our proposals to policy-and-lawmakers across the UK. This is our shared plan for governments to work in partnership with the UK’s food and drink industry to ensure it continues to lead the world and meet the needs of UK consumers and shoppers.
Topics
- Business insights & economics
- Obesity
- Education and skills
- Workforce and employment
- Exports
- Innovation
- Diet and health
- Trade
- Sustainable food systems
- Sustainable supply chains
Food is a matter of national security and is part of the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure. Food is a major public good and one that governments should be proud to support. A government’s first duty is to feed the country – if you can’t feed a country you don’t have a country.
This is the first time partners across the supply chain have joined forces to collectively set out our policy priorities to elected politicians across the United Kingdom.
The UK’s food and drink supply chain contributes more than £121 billion annually to the economy. It employs more than four million people – 14 per cent of the total UK workforce. 99 per cent of our firms are micro to medium-sized.
Our industry ensures UK consumers can reliably access safe, affordable and nutritious food and drink at all price points.
UK consumers and shoppers enjoy unprecedented choice and value.
Innovation in production, highly competitive just-in-time supply chains and rapid export growth to a record £22.6 billion in 2018 meant consumers benefited from a 6.7 per cent reduction in real terms prices over the last decade.
Production is so widely dispersed that it touches every community of the UK. Every constituency in the country has substantial workforce directly employed in the food and drink sector.
A dedicated strategy that encourages growth in our industry, respect for food as an essential resource, and both healthier consumption and production, could add billions to our economy.
We ask government to join us in our shared mission: to continue to provide consumers with safe, affordable, nutritious and sustainable food and drink and unlock our growth and productivity potential.