The NFU Horticulture and Potatoes Board has launched a resilience plan that prioritises the benefits of climate-friendly farming, the barriers the industry might face, and the support needed from government, industry and research and development to create a resilient future.
Set out to cover different resilience challenges and opportunities across the sector, it also includes several key policy ‘asks’ by the NFU.
NFU Horticulture and Potatoes Board chair Martin Emmett said: “The horticulture and potatoes sector is incredibly diverse, encompassing several hundred different crop types grown in a range of different growing systems. It is therefore challenging for the industry to establish benchmarks and targets that are representative of, or relevant to, the entire sector and so we have undertaken a project, in conjunction with NFU Energy, to identify key policy asks and barriers.
“We know that our sector has already made major steps, with narrow margins already necessitating growers to maximise efficiency wherever possible, and we want the good progress already made by this forward- thinking sector to be recognised.”
“We’ve identified some key areas where growers feel there are opportunities to enhance and make new steps towards a net zero sector, and where there are constraints whether it is funding, policy, or a lack of information.
“With the recent ambition from government to grow this sector, now is the time to showcase horticulture, and enhance our ongoing efforts to enable the sector to be a world leader in productivity and the road to net zero.”The full plan can be found at: https://www.nfuonline.com/updates-and-information/horticulture-and-potato-sector-resilience-plan/