Charlotte Evans starts her role as Head of Engagement Pork

On Thursday, 10 November, AHDB announced the new sector plans for 2022–27 at the Delivering the future of farming event. There is real clarity in the feedback from the industry and the Council and I am eager to start delivering a new plan that is better suited to the industry’s needs and challenges and ensuring that your levy is put into really good use.

AHDB plays a unique role within the industry and should continue to play a key role in overcoming factors that are challenging the sector. These include volatile and high input costs, compliance with welfare and environmental legislation, people and skills, labour and contraction of the sector. In the time I have worked within the industry, there has not been a more challenging time.

My immediate priority is to help establish what we need to deliver and keep delivering to satisfy the feedback from the industry, bearing in mind these current challenges. This will be accomplished through communication with pork producers, the Council, and my immediate team. I’d like to understand why different parts of the industry voted as they did and the outcome they had in mind when they gave their feedback. This will help to inform how we measure the success (or otherwise) of what we do and ensure the desired outcome.

We will deliver a programme of activities that reflects the current needs of the industry, which will subsequently help it to be adaptable to future changing market conditions. I intend to draw on my practical background and additional skills and experience from the commercial sector in managing tight resources, working across multi-disciplinary teams, and measuring and monitoring the success of different commercial, technical and marketing activities to do this.

My team is responsible for interacting directly with pig producers throughout the regions in diverse ways. Their responsibilities, up until recently, have been delivering projects that enhance pig performance and optimise the cost of production through sharing best practices, running pig clubs and workshops, delivering training, and establishing networks, locally and overseas. In the future, the focus of this activity will be centred around enhancing and protecting the reputation of the sector, especially around welfare, lowering carbon emissions and the environment.

Future activity is also likely to involve more post-farmgate plans, bringing together the rest of the supply chain and ensuring that all activities do one of three things: increase exports, optimise pork marketing, and manage reputation. AHDB can help the industry remain profitable, and competitive and achieve what it might struggle to do itself, whether that is due to cost, anti-competition laws, logistics or time.

I am eager to meet with many of you soon in this new capacity and to work with you. Feel free to contact me at any time via charlotte.evans@ahdb.org.uk.