Driving Growth in UK Horticulture: Our opportunity for a government backed sector growth plan
Christine McDowell, NFU Senior Policy Specialist
The newly established Farming & Food Partnership Board (FFPB), led by The Rt.Hon. Emma Reynolds, Defra Secretary of State and Dame Angela Eagle, Defra Minister for Farming, brings together representatives from across the farming and food supply chain to strengthen collaboration, champion domestic production and improve the long-term resilience of our food system. NFU President Tom Bradshaw holds a seat at the table along with others from AIC, IGD, UKH, AHDB, BRC and FDF.
Its first meeting in March kicked off an ambition to deliver a dedicated growth plan for horticulture. Established to bring government and industry together to tackle mid to long‑term structural challenges, the FFBP has identified horticulture as a priority area where targeted intervention and strategic planning can unlock substantial economic, environmental and productivity gains.
A horticulture sector plan intends to lay out clear targeted measures that will enable growers to achieve the sector’s full potential. It will cover the breadth of the industry, from outdoor and protected edible crop production to ornamentals and viticulture. The FFPB work is being developed at pace to ensure momentum and aims to align with wider government ambitions for food security, green growth and innovation.
The NFU is a core member of Defra’s Horticulture Expert Growers Group (HEGG) tasked by the Partnership Board in shaping the plan, ensuring that growers’ priorities are embedded from the outset. The NFU has long called on government to better support horticulture growers, so this opportunity is significant to secure a long‑term, government‑backed plan. One that recognises horticulture as a critical sector capable of producing and delivering healthy fruit, vegetables and plants, high‑skilled jobs, supports productivity and cutting‑edge technology adoption, and significantly increases its potential contributions to the UK’s food supply.
Central to the NFU’s position is the need for the plan to reflect our own horticulture growth strategy, which identifies the policy blockers standing in growers’ way to reaching the sector’s full potential. This includes a strong focus on creating the right enabling policy environment for investment, innovation and long-term certainty. We’re clear that the sector cannot grow without addressing long‑standing barriers such as access to skilled labour, affordable energy, water security, addressing planning constraints, and the regulatory burden that growers face.
Our mission is for the sector plan to set out a credible roadmap for improving the competitiveness and resilience of UK horticulture. This includes securing a fit‑for‑purpose seasonal labour route, ensuring energy policy supports rather than hinders glasshouse production and cold storage, and delivering a modern water‑management framework that enables new reservoirs and abstraction flexibility. The union also wants to see commitments to funding support, research and development, automation, and the adoption of new technologies that can help growers reduce costs, improve productivity and meet environmental targets.
Policy changes must also be twinned with marketplace reform to avoid value bleeding out across the supply‑chain. We’re urging the plan to address unfair buying behaviours and improve contract terms to address issues that have become increasingly acute for growers facing rising input costs and tightening margins. A growth plan that does not tackle these commercial realities, in tandem, we argue, will fall short of delivering meaningful change.
As a core stakeholder, the NFU is working closely across all government departments, industry partners such as British Apples and Pears and British Berry Growers and the Defra’s Partnership Board to ensure the plan is ambitious, evidence‑based and grounded in the realities of modern horticultural production. This as a rare opportunity to secure long‑term strategic backing for a sector with enormous potential, but which has, for too long, lacked the policy framework needed to thrive.
If delivered well, the horticulture sector growth plan could mark a turning point. Providing the clarity, confidence and commitment required to unlock new investment and drive sustainable expansion across the industry.
Join us at Fruit Focus on the NFU Fruit Forum Stage, where the NFU and industry leaders want to hear your thoughts on what growth should look like for the fruit sector.
NFU Fruit Forum Stage Sessions
