Top 10 food heavyweights, and a bumper year for Brussels sprouts

Two days away from Christmas and the weather is mild, the fields are green and most unlike the Christmas card depiction of the big day. We have had a fair amount of rain this month which should have satisfied the water authorities; filling up the underground reserves. It is wet underfoot now and the clay at Plaistow has reached its usual winter state, wet, sticky and waterlogged.

I expect that at the end of this year, it will be highlighted once again what a dangerous industry agriculture is, falling well behind the construction industry since they got their house in order.

We had 21 fatalities in the last reporting year which was the best year by some margin, but the celebrations did not last long as we have seen more than 30 people killed since March; an appalling number.

Quad bikes are the main cause, especially for those who still ride them without helmets. There is added danger on the hills of course as quad bikes can quite easily roll over or rear backwards when navigating steep gradients which is very dangerous. Excessive speed always plays a part as well as lack of concentration.

The other dangers are falling off, or through roofs, the real danger of being caught up in machinery and then there are the dangers of slurry pits and tanks, falling stacks of hay and straw, with children in danger of not been seen by drivers if they are on the farm yard unsupervised. We need another push of farm safety in 2021.

The Grocer Magazine has put together a list of the top ten major influencers in Whitehall this past year on all matters relating to food, which makes interesting reading with some surprising names amongst those you would expect to see. Michael Gove is top of the list as one of the most senior ministers in Cabinet and playing a leading role in government where he is a pivotal figure in the Cabinet Office where power and influence lies.

Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs George Eustice is next having worked a decade on food policy; a trusted Cabinet member, arch-Brexiteer, seen as a safe pair of hands by No 10. David Kennedy is at number 3, director general for food, farming, animal and plant health at Defra. He is the driving force behind all things relating to food during both

Brexit and Covid 19, with many in the trade extolling the virtues of this senior civil servant.

Minette Batters, NFU President, at number four has stood up for British farmers and British food like no other, leading efforts to get more than a million signatures on a petition against lower standard imports, getting support from Jamie Oliver to the Mail on Sunday newspaper; no mean feat. This resulted in the trade and agriculture commission enshrined as a statutory body last month which will enable it to formally present its views before any trade deal involving food is agreed by Parliament.

Minette marshalled the NFU troops and backbenchers were engaged and persuaded and she muscled her way to No 10 for a meeting with the Prime Minister.

Ken Murphy, Tesco CEO, is next on the list, lower than his predecessor, but his obvious clout in the market gets him noticed at Whitehall. Liz Truss is sixth in the list and her impact on the food industry is likely to become more significant as we turn our eyes to international deals. Chris Tyas, Director of food supply at Defra is next, overseeing the ‘war room’ and is known for his understanding of the industry and getting things done.

At eight we have Ian Wright, CEO of the Food and Drink Federation, the most effective person on trade associations, head and shoulder above other industry leaders in terms of influence and ability to bring people together. He is followed by Tim Leunig the economic adviser to the Chancellor, a radical thinker, reportedly the brains behind the furlough scheme and holds advisory positions at Defra and Education too and is close to Michael Gove. Marcus Rashford rounds up the top 10, the 23 year old footballer’s campaign on homelessness and child hunger forced not one but two U-turns on the Government. Having changed policy on free school meals to vulnerable children during the summer school holidays in November government also pledged more than £400million to support poor families in England. He has also brought together major UK food brands to form a taskforce to reduce child food poverty. A level of influence leading campaigners can only dream of.

This has been a bumper year for Brussels sprouts! That is good news with Christmas demand for the unloved veg in many quarters as high as it gets. The weather has been perfect this year according to growers and both quality and quantity has never been better.

However, much of the crop will not make it to major retailers as the demand is that they must be between 3cm and 3.5cm! Who decides on these rules? All sprouts failing to meet this tight criteria are ploughed back in the ground, sent to landfill, fed to farm animals or used as bio-fuel. Millions of tonnes of edible food from fruit and veg, meat, cheese and other foods suffer a similar fate each year.

Where is the infamous Committee for Climate Change on this issue? Putting an end to wasting vast amounts of produce is far more important than meddling with people’s diets? All this wasted food has a carbon footprint and will have an effect on climate according to their own rules, but they cheerfully add it on to agriculture’s account, seemingly more intent to paint agriculture as a major problem than help solve this huge issue beyond our control.

A company in San Francisco has developed chicken nuggets made in a vat of cultured ‘meat’ and is confident that it will be sold in Asia as Singapore gives it the green light. Cultivated meat is different from plant-based meat as it involves cells from real animals. Scores of companies around the world are now experimenting and developing laboratory grown fish, chicken and beef for consumption by humans and pets.

It is estimated that this market will be worth $140billion by the end of the decade and scientists at Bath University have successfully grown animal cells on blades of grass which could be developed into cultured meat. Cultured meat is made in large cultivators or bio-reactors which in time will resemble a brewery and according to those involved is only a small step from much of the processed food on sale today which also has its origins in a laboratory. I’m sure it will find plenty of space on retail shelves if the margin is right and the investment capital behind these ventures as this column has alluded to before is vast.

Christmas this year will be very different for all of us and whilst the Prime Minister is (at the time of writing) holding out against his medical advisors, he advocates that he is placing his trust in us to act responsibly. We need to take that responsibility very seriously. A merry but safe Christmas to all our readers.