1

Welcome from the Chair

• Corrienne Peasgood, the Chair, welcomed members and introduced the meeting.

2

Global Significance and Real-World Impact of UEA’s research: Research Excellence Framework (REF) Results & Agri-Food Ranking – Fiona Lettice, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation), UEA (slides attached to email)

• The Government, through UKRI and Research England, assesses research across UK research institutions every 6-7 years, which helps to justify why research and innovation takes place and its value to the economy and society. It also determines the quality-related funding.
• Based on the results from 2014, UEA was awarded c.£15m per annum to continue to invest in research and innovation. Expecting to see similar funding following the latest REF results.
• UEA is delighted with the overall REF results and the University was ranked 20th in the UK overall. The result for impact was particularly strong, ranking joint 16th (an improvement on 32nd last time).
• For Agriculture, Food & Veterinary Sciences, UEA ranked joint 1st alongside Queen’s University Belfast.
• The University has an eye on the international agenda, as well as delivering national and local impact.  

Council members congratulated the UEA on this great achievement.

See slide presentation here

3

Apologies & Minutes – Chair

• Minutes of the last Industry Council meeting (15 March) were approved.
• Welcomed Neil Punchard and Adrian Dyter to their first Council meeting.
• Noted apologies (listed at the bottom of the minutes).

4

Broadland Food Innovation Centre (BFIC) – Alexander Larter

• There are three tenants confirmed already for the BFIC, with a fourth tenant close to being secured.
• Hethel Innovation won the tender to run the BFIC.
• There is a very large chunk of the £250k consultancy pot left to support food and drink businesses across Norfolk and Suffolk. Would welcome promotion around this to encourage businesses to come forward.
• Delivered their first start-up course on how to set up a food start-up.
• There is a very busy schedule of events for the cluster.
• The Suffolk launch of the cluster took place at Suffolk New College at the start of June, with the Norfolk launch on 21 June. These events have shown the need to raise awareness to businesses in Suffolk as only 21 attended the Suffolk launch and 63 are due to attend the Norfolk launch.
  • Suffolk County Council offered their support to raise awareness of the cluster and Martin Collison mentioned the Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival opportunity given the huge network of food and drink businesses that will be present in September.
• They have a stand at the Food Hall during the Royal Norfolk Show. On 30 June, there will be a Special Interest Group workshop with three themes to discuss – establishing and building a plant-based protein supply chain; overcoming food security; and how the RNAA can develop a Food Hub at the Royal Norfolk Showground. Would welcome more attendees at this event.
• Running a Level 4 Food Safety Course (15 places in Norfolk and 15 places in Suffolk). Worth £1k that businesses can access for free. There will be a specific topic on the course tailored to new product development.
• Taking businesses on a tour to the National Food Manufacturing Centre in Holbeach soon.
• The full version of their website will be finalised in the next ten days. This will include a membership area where there will be a trade directory of businesses.
• Requested support from Council members and their networks to encourage businesses to sign up.

5

Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) – Clarke Willis & Iain Dunnett

Clarke Willis:

• Encouraged businesses to look at https://www.thegreenhousegrowers.co.uk/ who have c.100 acres across our farms in Sussex and Norfolk. They claim that in just a few years, they will be growing 12% of the UK’s tomatoes and 10% of the UK’s cucumbers.
• There are two enormous greenhouses in Trowse, Norfolk and Ingham, Suffolk warmed using waste heat from Anglian Water treatment facilities. The combined facilities are capable of producing c.12% of the UK’s tomatoes. Biosecurity is very tight at these sites.
• The Fischer Farms development at the Food Enterprise Park is referred to as Farm 2 (Farm 1 is in Staffordshire). The company is coming at this project with experience. Their work is at the cutting edge of agri-tech. Supply chains have been a challenge, but they expect to be up and running in November. One or two tunnels will be completed before then. They will be growing the equivalent of 70,000 bags of mixed lettuce each day, every day of the year. The project only requires 20 very highly skilled people, who are IT, AI and Plant Science experts. Their main challenge is energy usage. A solar farm is being installed which will feed this side of the grid and if that works effectively, the company is finalising an option to build three more controlled environment farms on the Food Enterprise Park. In the long-term, they are looking to grow wheat, soy and rice in the tunnels.

Iain Dunnett:

• From a clean growth perspective, CEA ticks all of the boxes for the LEP given its net zero credentials and the crop to market benefits. We are seeing technical developments almost on a weekly basis with this opportunity.
• OneFarm won the argument hands down regarding clean growth for their investment in Newmarket. The LEP is very supportive of this type of cutting-edge innovation. OneFarm are using an existing warehouse in Newmarket with Intelligent Growth Solutions as the provider of technical solutions. There are six financiers of the project, which bring together the best of public and private financing.
• This is Phase 1 of the OneFarm development. Their intention is to follow-up with a Phase 2 development which would massively increase the tonnage of crops they produce each year.
• The LEP has received significant interest in this project since the public announcement around our loan. We need to ensure that we continue focusing on innovation in agriculture and capitalise on opportunities and do not less these opportunities pass us by in the years to come.

Chair mentioned that this is a completely different opportunity to highlight to young people in the region. Welcomed thoughts on how we drive actions in the region to maximise CEA opportunities across Norfolk and Suffolk. Important we keep banging the drum for the region despite more insular political moves.

Clarke Willis:

• We have just welcomed 130 of the brightest and best with Nuffield International Farming Scholars visit and not one of them were looking at CEA. Additionally, there are no universities or FE institutions that are teaching CEA at this moment.
• Supply chain requirements driven by consumers is changing the landscape.

Viv Gillespie:

• Very interested to work with a couple of these companies. Keen to understand what percentage of agriculture/horticulture roles they would need compared to manufacturing, digital and energy roles.

Greg Smith:

• We need to be thinking about the young people who are not already thinking about the industry. There are lots of good examples that can be shown to young people where we can show the required travel of direction.
• Important that we push ahead hard on this given the narrative from Government around levelling up and greater investment outside of this region.

Tim Place:

• Highlighted the impact of the project on his own workforce, with staff poached.
• Felt that this production with LED lighting was not the best route commercially.

Ben Turner:

• Do not see this as the norm for agriculture, but of course this will be part of the mix.
• The food miles argument is massive.
• Highlighted concerns that some CEA investments so far in the local economy have not led to supply chain opportunities for the region and instead wonderful tech and machinery was brought over from the Netherlands to deliver the project. We need to maximise these opportunities for this region.

Jonathan Clarke:

• We are going to need to sort out renewable energy for this region. Not just for this opportunity, but to maximise a whole host of opportunities across the economy in the region. Infrastructure investments need to support this. Electricity and water infrastructure need to be part of a wider picture. There is not robust infrastructure for energy storage in the region. We are seeing the electrification of tractors and additional farm machinery, but farmers are unable to access these developments. If we invest in improving our infrastructure, we should see greater inward investment in the types of investments we want to see.

Belinda Clarke:

• Worth thinking about displacement as a risk with these investments.

6

‘Plant Science for Nutrition’ DIT High Potential Opportunity (HPO) & John Innes Centre (JIC)’s Biofortification project - Stuart Catchpole & Jonathan Clarke

Stuart Catchpole:

• The Department for International Trade (DIT) has 27 HPOs across the country. This region has one at Adastral Park focused around 5G, digitisation and satellite technologies and the second one is focused on plant science for nutrition and centred around Norwich Research Park (NRP).
• DIT overseas posts will promote the opportunity to work with NRP partners.
• The LEP has pitched a slide deck to DIT posts and the HPO is on the DIT website.
• DIT is now working on an investor brochure which is being refined and will hopefully come out in the next 8 weeks based on market opportunities.
• At this moment, the focus regions include USA, Canada & Mexico; the Asia-Pacific region; and Netherlands, Switzerland, and Austria. This may be subject to change based on what the data tells DIT.
• Not just looking at larger companies with this campaign, also looking at smaller companies and start-ups such as the BFIC cluster.
• Now having conversations regarding how we can best promote this as a partnership and push the message through our networks.

Jonathan Clarke:

• The press story around the bio-fortified tomato which has been gene edited to have a high accumulation of pro-vitamin D in the fruit and leaves has led to the biggest press coverage for JIC in the last 10-15 years, with TV crews coming to the site to report the story.
• Receiving significant international interest. Two Thai companies in the sector have made approaches in the last week, as well as breeders in countries such as the Netherlands and US. Also, in dialogue with the Development Agency of Singapore.
• Just signed a deal with a UK vegetable breeder.
• Jointly responded to a BBSRC call for an Innovation Hub for the biofortification of foods. This would be a £1.9m project to build relationships between the food sector and the research base. There will be five Innovation Hubs across the country, all national in their significance.
• Supporting a number of spin-out companies such as the smarter food company now starting trials on a broccoli soup product which reduces glycaemic index.
• They are challenged by infrastructure requirements. A company recently asked for infrastructure which does not exist at NRP or the Food Enterprise Park, so would need to invest in facilities to match this demand.

See High Potential Opportunity slides here

7

State of the Nation - All

Belinda Clarke:

• Thinking a lot about the Ukraine situation and the impact on supply chains.
• REAP Conference on 8 November.
• BBSRC approached as they are looking to scope out a funding call around horticulture. Looking to put on a workshop in September to discuss the research pipeline.
• There is no shortage of consultancies working hard with farmers and landowners to support them with their transition to ELMS.

Ben Turner:

• There are a number of farmers looking at this harvest with a windfall coming. Lots of crops planted and fertilised based on previous prices. But this will be a one-off windfall with huge pressures this year around inflation and inputs. Worldwide commodity prices are booming. As soon as the situation in Ukraine is over, prices will come down. Predicting a crash in the industry mid-to-late 2023 to early 2024.
• There are huge issues with the supply of combines for this harvest. Companies are buying combines of every colour from auction and anywhere they can to keep customers going.
• Still in a situation where every tractor leaving the country has to be vet checked, but every tractor coming into this country is not checked. UK businesses are being heavily penalised here.
• Still looking for a depot and want to invest in this region to create local jobs.

Clarke Willis:

• Price is still an issue for food producers. The costs businesses are facing are huge and there is simply no certainty out there.

Martin Collison:

• The commercial sector is in turmoil at the moment.
• The Food Strategy published by Government is very different to what they were looking to publish a few months ago. Driven by concerns around the cost of living crisis.
• If the war in Ukraine ends today, politicians are still unlikely to trust Russia for the next 5-10 years so the commercial world needs to respond and fast.
• The balance has just changed. We have reached a point where we cannot rely on other parts of the world to feed us or supply us with machinery. There is a lot of commercial focus on reshoring. Need a smart balance between sustainability and output.
• We need to produce more food in order to feed our population.
• There will be some businesses that really stand to benefit this year. Their cashflows will be very strong this year, but that will not be the case next year. There will be others that did not fix their prices for this year and will have major cashflow issues.
• We are not imposing the same challenges on imports as we are on exports, which is hitting those that produce and export enormously. Facing lots of extra costs to export, but not on the import side. This is not what most people thought they were signing up to.

Jonathan Clarke:

• All of the BBSRC institutes are submitting applications to secure the next five years of funding. This will be completed by 30 June. They have been asked to cover off a section on capability, connectivity and culture. The consequence for JIC may be that less money is directed to the translation of their research. The emphasis on innovation is strategic, rather than discovery which is a massive change.
• Welcomed the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill as a positive move from Government and ready to make a big play for this region.
• Would welcome a future discussion on fisheries at the Agri-Food Industry Council.

Matt Jones:

• Attends the Industry Council in two capacities – for Suffolk County Council and REAF (the Renaissance of East Anglian Fisheries). REAF is becoming a CIC. Working with the County Councils, the LEP and partners to progress. Happy to provide an update at the next Industry Council meeting.

Jo Middleton:

• Great to see the Royal Norfolk Show back on 29-30 June.

Natasha Waller:

• New Anglia LEP, in conjunction with Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils, has been successful in gaining £1m funding to deliver Skills Bootcamps on behalf of the Department of Education. These are a means of delivering short, intensive training courses to give people:
  • initial skills to enter a new sector from another one or a period of unemployment
  • enhanced skills to progress within an existing workplace
  • boosted knowledge to take on new contracts in the case of self-employed people.
• Training will take place in digital, advanced manufacturing & engineering, construction, green skills, and HGV driving.
• The LEP is now looking to procure education providers to apply to join a procurement framework in order to deliver these bootcamps.

Neil Punchard:

• Particularly for this group, the key message to keep getting out there is that the environment should not be a burden for food businesses. From field scale to landscape scale, talking about a small provision which can benefit the yield or bottom line.
• Keen to support the Delivery Plan work.

Tim Place:

• Yields and quality of soft fruit have been brilliant this year. Sales have been down this year however. Need a 15% increase in price to cover input costs but might get a 3% increase.
• Spending a lot of time around irrigation and water. Losing irrigation licences for environmental reasons. Now working on reservoirs and facing nightmare challenges around planning.

Viv Gillespie:

• Pleased with how the Suffolk Show went.
• Mentioned the College’s involvement in a project which links farming software and is seeking a grant from the Farming Innovation Programme.

8

Any Other Business (Chair)

• James will circulate a draft Delivery Plan to the Council once we have had input from all partners who wish to feed into this process.
• Corrienne will remain as Chair following conversations with the LEP.