The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has formally announced there will be a ballot on the continuation of a statutory levy in horticulture. It will be a yes or no vote on the future existence of AHDB Horticulture and the work it delivers on behalf of growers.

The announcement follows confirmation that AHDB had received valid requests for a ballot from more than 5% of horticulture levy payers.

AHDB will now procure the service of an independent company to administer the vote process. It says that this will take a number of weeks and AHDB envisages that the voting process will commence in January 2021. Every levy payer will be invited and encouraged to vote in the ballot.

Once the ballot has concluded, AHDB says it will publish the results on its website and inform ministers. Ministers will then make a decision on the future of the levy, taking into account various factors, such as voter turnout. Ministers are not bound by the result of the ballot.

Nicholas Saphir, AHDB chair, said: “We welcome the opportunity for an open debate on the important role of AHDB and how it is the funding backbone of horticultural applied research and development to address crop protection, labour, resource use, and technical innovation.”