The Farming Minister George Eustice MP visited Lincolnshire on Thursday (15th January) to launch a new body which will champion the area’s food producers.
The Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership has created a Food Board made up of senior figures from food and farming officially launched during the Minister’s visit. The visit also allowed the LEP to unveil its Agri-Food Plan 2014-2020 developed by Collison and Associates Ltd. which is now working alongside the Greater Lincolnshire LEP to implement its recommendations.
Mr Eustice, who is Minister for Farming, Food and the Marine Environment at DEFRA, presided over the launch of the board and plan at the National Centre for Food Manufacturing in Holbeach, part of the University of Lincoln.
“Greater Lincolnshire is the food heartland of the UK but the agri-food sector is often overlooked when it comes to prioritising support for business,” said Mark Tinsley, a member of the Greater Lincolnshire LEP board who leads on agri-food.
“Without our agri-food sector and all the people in it who grow, harvest, prepare and distribute our food, this region would be in a much worse economic state and the country would have to import far more food than it already does. That’s why the Greater Lincolnshire LEP has made agri-food one of its priority sectors, and we’re launching our Agri-Food Plan next month to set out how we can help our food processing and farming businesses to grow even further.”
The Food Board will support the plan’s objectives by informing and advising the LEP on issues and challenges which face the sector such as water management, planning, transport infrastructure, the translation of research to industry or skills requirements.