Oxford Farming Conference

Food firms must adapt to new markets pre-Brexit

By Matt Atherton

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Oxford farming conference United kingdom European union

Food manufacturers must adapt to new markets ahead of Brexit, and add value wherever they can, said the Oxford Farming Conference’s chairman.

The food and farming industry could capitalise on the new markets by improving collaboration up the supply chain, Westchester Group Investment Management Europe chief executive Martin Davies told FoodManufacture.co.uk in this exclusive video interview, filmed at the Oxford Farming Conference on January 4.

“I think we need to position ourselves to capitalise on the things we’re already quite good at, but there’s no doubt we can improve on those things,”​ said Davies.

‘Capture value’

​[With] farmers collaborating with people in the food chain, and ultimately people in the market place, you can have an approach where everybody helps each other to improve things, and there should be some possibilities to capture value through doing so.”

British and European consumers are very conscious of the environment, and are discerning customers, Davies said. Manufacturers would have to target very different shoppers once the UK left the EU, he warned.

“That’s one of the things, I guess, which is a concern with coming out of Europe,”​ Davies said. “[There are] 500M consumers in Europe, so are UK farmers going to be able to access that market which has similarities with the UK?

‘Concerned about traceability’

“People ​[in the UK and Europe] are concerned about traceability; where their food’s coming from, the provenance, the nutritional value. That doesn’t really exist in other parts of the world.”

Davies also highlighted the key messages from the Oxford Farming Conference 2017, as well as how the industry should respond to two consultation papers announced on the day by environment secretary Andrea Leadsom.

Meanwhile, how can food and drink manufacturers capitalise on the growing trend of eating-out​? Watch FoodManufacture.co.uk’s exclusive interview with Simon Stenning, director of market research firm MCA.

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