The government needs to make its environmental priorities clearer and find a way for industry to spread the multibillion-pound cost of reforms, so they don’t cripple small firms and drive up prices for consumers.
That was the call today from FDF CEO Karen Betts, in a speech warning the race to net zero and other key environmental targets are being hindered by the lack of a strategic roadmap.
Betts was at London Zoo for the launch of the FDF’s Ambition 2030 programme, which sets out recommendations for ministers and its members on how to move forward on environmental policies.
With the government said to be planning the launch of a new cross-sector food strategy, and Defra minister Steve Reed having pledged to work with a co-government and industry workforce to tackle environmental and farming issues, Betts told the event the strategic direction needed by the industry was “missing”.
In an exclusive interview, she told The Grocer the FDF had held talks with other trade bodies and agreed on the major priorities of what was needed for the food industry to undergo systems change.
“We’ve been talking to other bodies like the BRC, IGD and the NFU, everybody is deep into this and increasingly we know what we need to do,” she said.
“What we now need is for the government to prioritise the key things in its strategy. I don’t think it’s clear to us what the government is planning.”
Betts warned landmark policies such as the introduction of extended producer responsibility (EPR) were being brought in without crucial foundations, such as ensuring they would see investment in local authority recycling capacity.
“EPR is a good example of what I mean,” said Betts. “The industry is being asked to basically take a big breath and make a huge downpayment for a system we can’t see yet.
“We are being asked to put all the money in, and if the system responds to that, we might get the more advanced and consolidated system we need. But how we transition the food system is going to cost a lot of money and how we finance that transition is going to be key.
“We need government or make sure the costs can be properly spread across a period of time and that the whole sector can engage the finance industry.”
Betts also called for the government to do more to create the right conditions to boost investment in the food and farming industry to tackle key environmental challenges, starting with next week’s budget.
“They have to create the right economic environment in which all this can happen, but at the end of the day we’re going to be the ones that have to make it happen,” she added.
“The companies I speak to, many of them are really worried about the costs coming down the pipeline. This budget is really important, it will definitely set the stage and help companies understand how they can deal with some of the cost involved.
“The UK has pretty deep financial markets and a pretty sophisticated financial sector, so we ought to be able to work this one out.”
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