In this year’s City Food & Drink Lecture, titled ‘Preparing to Farm for 2024, with Success’, keynote speaker John Shropshire OBE, G’s Group chairman, shared his vision for the future of UK food production.
Shropshire delivered a lecture at London’s Guildhall to an audience including leading figures from the food industry, liverymen, policy makers, students, and HRH The Princess Royal about the need for an industry vision if the UK is to achieve food security.
Founded in 1925 by Guy Shropshire, G’s Group is a fresh produce business with farms and production facilities in the UK, Spain, Eastern Europe, West Africa, Netherlands, Germany, and America. John Shropshire entered his father’s business in 1976 and has since led G’s to an annual turnover of £720 million, supplying more than 20 million packs of produce each week.
The City Food & Drink Lecture, now in its 24th year, is a well-established forum that seeks to stimulate discussion about what lies ahead for the sector. Covering topics including succession and family farming, attitude to risk, and sustainability, Shropshire highlighted the challenges faced by the food industry as well as the opportunities that are available with the right technology, investment, and people.
Opening his lecture, Shropshire said: “Food security is the primary aim of any country and at some stage before 2040, it will likely be a top national priority in our turbulent world.
“Climate change is a threat to the world. However, it will also offer great opportunities to British farmers in our temperate climate, as long as we invest and adapt intelligently to realise them.
“The industry must embrace evolving technologies such as precision breeding and AI.”
On the topic of investment and innovation, he continued: “The most important investment to get right is, of course, in our people. It’s the wider team that delivers the results. Structure is key, empowering our people through a devolved structure, giving them a sense of ownership, whilst providing the tools, information, and resources so that they can take decisions directly in the best interests for the business and our customers.
“Looking to 2040, one of the most important things to get right will be accurate and timely information and a relentless focus on cash flow and profits.”
Following the lecture, Charlotte Smith, presenter on BBC1’s Countryfile and BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today, chaired a panel discussion with industry experts. Joining Shropshire were Henry Dimbleby, co-founder of Bramble Partners and Leon, Jack Bobo, executive director of Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies at University of California Los Angeles, and FSA chief executive Katie Pettifer. The panel were quizzed on issues including questions about what the food industry needs to do to attract and retain workers, the use of technology, and how regulatory certainty is needed in order for businesses to have confidence to invest.
HRH The Princess Royal closed proceedings with a speech in which she called the food industry “an area that is so largely underestimated” and highlighted the opportunities for technology, engineering, and careers in agriculture. She thanked John Shropshire for “challenging” the audience and said she hoped that the lecture, attended by selected students, would stimulate a long-term effect.
