A word from the Cereals and Oilseeds council chair

The grains and oilseeds we produce form the basis of a balanced diet, provide renewable fuel, feed livestock and support the UK’s food security. 

As an industry, we are proud to produce these benefits, while maintaining a diverse and valued countryside – all delivered against a highly volatile marketplace.

In May, thousands of you used your Shape the Future vote to tell us two important things: that almost all aspects of our commercial and politically independent work are valuable and that the effectiveness of activities must be improved.

Our future work will be organised into three themes:

1. Trusted variety and product testing.
2. Independent, practical research and market intelligence.
3. Work across the supply chain.

You will see some specific improvements to how we deliver work in the future. As an example, we need to create Recommended Lists (RL) that meet the needs of the modern industry. We will evolve the RL through a far more extensive review than anything we’ve undertaken before.

We also need to re-engage farmers in the research decisions we make. This means we’ll explore how best to re-establish farmer-led decision-making on what research is funded and change our research to create solutions at a farm system level.

A focus on maximising value in the supply chain is also vital. Any work undertaken in this area must benefit all groups of levy payers. We also want to improve how AHDB engages with you.

We recognise that we need to be agile and flexible as the world changes. Throughout the life of this plan, we will listen to your feedback and adapt our priorities to respond to the challenges you face.
This plan is the beginning of a conversation. We want to hear your views so that we can represent you and the industry fairly and deliver what’s needed with confidence. We look forward to hearing from you.

Stephen Briggs Interim Chair, Cereals & Oilseeds Sector Council

Purpose of the levy

The levy empowers all levy payers to act together to tackle challenges and opportunities that cannot, or will not, be addressed by individuals or commercial organisations alone.