A blog from Sir John Peace, Chairman of the Midlands Engine Partnership.

The Midlands is internationally renowned for its manufacturing heritage and, since the Industrial Revolution, has led in sectors from engineering to automotive and aerospace.  Less well-known but equally important are the region’s strengths in agri-food and its pivotal role within the UK food system, producing more food than any other region and acting as the UK’s food distribution hub.   

The Midlands’ role in the food system

The Midlands has 22% of England’s farmland and 24% of the farm workforce, benefitting from excellent soil quality, a favourable climate and world-class farming expertise.  Furthermore, the region is at the forefront of agri-food innovation, with 20% of UK agri-tech businesses based in the region, alongside world-class research centres, such as the Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology (LIAT). This also includes innovation by drawing on regional strengths in other sectors, including automotive and aerospace, to develop the new technologies needed by the global food system.

The region also has a thriving, diverse SME food and drink business base, which is agile and innovative, that is developing new products and creating the high growth food companies of tomorrow.

Over the last 100 years, as the complexity of the food system has evolved with more value-added food processing and national distribution of food, our region’s role in the food system has become ever-more important.

With goods consolidated in the Midlands within 125 miles of a port of entry and within four hours of over 90% of UK mainland destinations, the region has become the centre for UK food distribution - as a time-critical supply chain looks to deliver enhanced efficiency in food storage and distribution.

More than half of larger food manufacturers in the UK (turnover of £100m+) are based in the Midlands and, between 2017 and 2021, more than a quarter of Foreign Direct Investment into UK food and drink manufacturing landed in the region.  Our region also exports more than £2bn in in food and drink goods annually, with huge opportunities to export the region’s technology, skills and knowledge.

In total the Midlands food system includes 66,000 businesses and over 850,000 employees, with 370,000 working in the production and distribution of food and the other 480,000 in consumer-facing food and drink retail and catering.

The Midlands Engine Food White Paper

By bringing together partners right across the Midlands, the Midlands Engine now has an exceptional opportunity to collectively accelerate sustainable food system growth. It is for this reason that we have joined forces with the Midlands Future Food Alliance, an alliance of industry and academic leaders, to bring forward a Midlands Engine Food White Paper evidencing the opportunity for sustainable food system growth, led by the Midlands.

The White Paper highlights the scale of the sustainable food system growth opportunity – reflecting the ambition and commitment of the food and drink industry and wider food system partners, and evidenced by robust data produced by the Midlands Engine Observatory and 17 regional case studies. 

The scale of the opportunity, with the potential to increase regional GVA by £6bn by 2030 and generate 9,000 additional regional jobs, reflects the strength of the agri-food clusters and assets across the whole of the Midlands. The scale of ambition and opportunity for sustainable food system growth led by the Midlands, exemplified by Greater Lincolnshire’s pioneering UK Food Valley programme, is equally significant.

The strength and ambition of Greater Lincolnshire

Greater Lincolnshire’s pioneering UK Food Valley programme demonstrates the scale of ambition and opportunity for sustainable food system growth we want to see replicated across the Midlands.

From the seafood cluster in Grimsby, to fresh produce in the South, distribution hubs such as the one in Spalding and Magnavale’s new cold store near Grantham, as well as your innovative farmers, Lincolnshire is a leader in the UK food sector.  The scale and growth potential in the Greater Lincolnshire food chain has been recognised and supported by the public sector, notably by the Greater Lincolnshire LEP and the University of Lincoln, who have worked with the industry to create a cluster of skills, innovation and policy support initiatives to grow the industry.

It is interesting to reflect that in the same month that we launched our Midlands Engine Food White Paper, the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) also launched a manifesto for food chain growth, and the University of Lincoln received a Queens Anniversary Prize for its work on agrifood technology. 

By using our convening power to bring together partner initiatives such as the UK Food Valley with other regional and national initiatives, I know we can deliver and exceed our estimates of the food system growth opportunity set out in the White Paper.

The Midlands Engine is certainly up for the challenge and I know we can count on the UK Food Valley and its partners in industry, academia and the public sector in bringing forward our White Paper recommendations, working with national Government. The food industry in the UK has a bright future and if we all work together we can achieve so much more, so please join with us as we go on an exciting journey to lead the transformation of the UK food system from the Midlands.