Industry discontentment with AHDB Horticulture can be traced back to its predecessor the Horticultural Development Council (HDC). However it really gained traction following the low levels of engagement with a Defra-led review of the organisation in 2018 which attracted very low response rates and found that many of those growers who did respond had issues with the organisation. Had AHBD not hailed that document as a ringing endorsement we might be in a different place but now four years, two grower-organised surveys, two formal ballots and another consultation later the statutory levies on horticulture and potatoes will come to an end.
Growers who were critical of AHDB particularly those in the field vegetable sector and the AHDB Petitioners have achieved what they wanted, and growers can now conduct and manage their own R&D and claim the appropriate levels of tax relief.
For those who continue to support an industry-wide approach to R&D funding such as many fruit growers and the Growers Better Levy Group, the future is uncertain. Defra and the devolved governments have closed the door to any form of compulsory levy but have left mechanisms in place for those that wish to do so to use AHDB’s services on a commercial basis.
Given that AHDB has let nearly all those staff who were involved in its horticulture and potato activity go, sold its Sutton Bridge research centre, and archived its research onto a different website, it is debatable whether it can offer anything that growers would wish to pay for.
In the industry there are signs that others are starting to pick up some of the work that would previously have been done by AHDB. Conversations with NIAB and Fera Science reveal both have ambitious plans for some targeted research while crop protection companies continue to talk confidently about future EAMU approvals for their products – although this is one area that Defra and devolved administrations have admitted needs continued work.
There are still outstanding questions which need answering and as Jack Ward of British Growers pointed out to leek growers the other month there is a real need for an honest industry debate to decide how to progress R&D and how to allow those who may wish to collaborate to do so.
The crop associations and British Growers are ideally placed to lead this debate and possibly to coordinate voluntary financial contributions – or even sector wide voluntary levy payment. Reaching a consensus will be extremely difficult but with the commercial, practical and political challenges that our industry (and the wider food industry) face doing so is vital if horticulture is not to regress.
Typical of these challenges and the lack of understanding that all government departments continue to show towards our industry is the short notice pay increase for SAWS workers to £10.10 per hour. Three weeks to announce such a policy added to the lack of awareness shown by George Eustice when he spoke about the the issue at the NFU Conference is yet another example of how increasingly out-of-touch Defra and the Home Office seem to be.
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