A Review of the Agri-food Economy of Staffordshire July 2015 Contents 1 Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 1 2 Methodology ................................................................................................................................ 3 3 Overview of Agriculture in Staffordshire ....................................................................................... 5 4 Sectors .......................................................................................................................................... 9 4.1 Primary producers ................................................................................................................. 9 4.1.1 Dairy .............................................................................................................................. 9 4.1.2 Cereals and Oil Seed Rape ........................................................................................... 10 4.1.3 Sheep and Beef ........................................................................................................... 11 4.1.4 Soft Fruit...................................................................................................................... 11 4.1.5 Pigs .............................................................................................................................. 12 4.1.6 Potatoes ...................................................................................................................... 13 4.1.7 Poultry ......................................................................................................................... 14 4.2 Processors/Manufacturers .................................................................................................. 14 4.3 Distributors/Wholesalers .................................................................................................... 15 4.4 Trade buyers (caterers/retailers) ........................................................................................ 16 4.5 Public Sector Buyers ............................................................................................................ 18 4.6 Community Initiatives ......................................................................................................... 19 4.6.1 Food Banks .................................................................................................................. 19 4.6.2 Community Gardens ................................................................................................... 19 4.6.3 Other Community Initiatives ....................................................................................... 20 4.7 Consumers .......................................................................................................................... 21 4.8 Food waste .......................................................................................................................... 22 4.9 Infrastructure ...................................................................................................................... 23 5 The Food Web ............................................................................................................................. 24 5.1 Supply Chains ...................................................................................................................... 24 5.2 Employment ........................................................................................................................ 26 5.3 Value Added ........................................................................................................................ 26 5.4 Environmental Impact ......................................................................................................... 27 5.5 Social Impact ....................................................................................................................... 27 6 Trends ......................................................................................................................................... 28 6.1 Increasing population and changing diets ........................................................................... 28 6.2 Interest in provenance, organic and artisan food ............................................................... 29 6.3 Water scarcity ..................................................................................................................... 30 Staffordshire Agri-food Economy Review f3 - the local food consultants July 2015 6.4 Climate change.................................................................................................................... 31 7 Opportunities for Staffordshire’s Agri-Food Economy ................................................................ 33 7.1 Agri-tech.............................................................................................................................. 33 7.2 Collaboration....................................................................................................................... 34 7.3 Tourism ............................................................................................................................... 35 7.4 Localised value chains ......................................................................................................... 35 7.5 Information and skills .......................................................................................................... 37 7.6 Closer Links between Producers and Consumers ................................................................ 38 7.7 Public Health and Community Initiatives ............................................................................ 40 8 SWOT Analysis of Staffordshire’s Agri-Food Economy ................................................................ 41 8.1 Strengths ............................................................................................................................. 41 8.2 Weaknesses ........................................................................................................................ 41 8.3 Opportunities ...................................................................................................................... 41 8.4 Threats ................................................................................................................................ 42 9 Road Map .................................................................................................................................... 42 Prepared by : f3 - food for a sustainable future www.localfood.org.uk 0845 458 9525 Principal authors: Alec Duthie, Isobel Wright f3 is a co-operative Community Interest Company, established in 1999, with a track record of over 300 projects for government agencies, local authorities, private sector businesses and community groups. We help to develop and support sustainable local food initiatives, through research, strategic action plans, business planning, enterprise support, and programme evaluation. Staffordshire Agri-food Economy Review f3 - the local food consultants July 2015 1 Summary Staffordshire has an unusually wide range of landscapes and soil types, and as a result, a wide range of farm types. Although the county only has about 1% of England’s farmland, it has over 8% of the country’s dairy production, 6% of the soft fruit production, 2.5% of beef cattle, and 2.1% of laying and breeding hens. The most valuable farming sectors are dairy (estimated at £122 million), cereals (£38 million), beef (£36 million), soft fruit (£26 million) and pigs (£13 million). Poultry and potatoes are also significant, and the county has a surprisingly large proportion of England’s goats. As the county has excellent transport infrastructure and is close to large centres of population there is good access to existing and potentially new markets. There are 3,132 agricultural holdings in Staffordshire, covering 191,328 hectares. Over recent years there has been a reduction in the number of holdings with small farms being consolidated in to larger units. Just under 10,000 people are employed in the county’s agricultural sector but it is estimated that over 51,000 people work in the agri-food economy as a whole, contributing over £1.1 billion to the county’s Gross Value Added. The main issue for Staffordshire’s farmers is vulnerability to reduced incomes through fluctuations in commodity prices, combined with increased input costs. Currently this is particularly acutely felt by dairy farmers with individual farm businesses having little power in national and global markets, and often forced to be ‘price takers’ for their produce. Some Staffordshire farmers are enjoying great success in marketing their produce direct to local consumers through farm shops and local independent retailers, and by processing their own produce through on-farm bakeries, butcheries etc. These tend to be smaller farm businesses and whilst only accounting for a small proportion of overall production, they have a disproportionately large effect on local employment and economic activity. Larger farms tend to sell their produce directly to processors and manufacturers. Although there are some large food manufacturing and processing businesses in Staffordshire, it is clear that they source their raw materials in national markets and that most produce leaves the county for processing. These parts