Defra has confirmed that it will be scrapping the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s (AHDB) statutory levy for the potato and horticulture sectors from April 2022.
The UK government and devolved governments issued a joint public consultation on proposals to deliver legislative reforms to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) Order. The consultation applied to the whole of the United Kingdom where the levy is collected by AHDB and closed at midnight on 10th January 2022.
In line with recent ballots on the levy, the consultation proposed changes to deliver recommendation from the 2018 Request for Views on the Future of the AHDB report.
The proposed changes sit alongside improvements already underway to the structure and governance of AHDB to deliver what the government called “a more efficient and focused organisation” that gives value for money and greater accountability to levy payers in the future.
The results of the consultation are as follows:
- 74.8% of respondents supported the proposal to end the statutory potato levy in Great Britain from April 2022
- 87.4% of respondents supported the introduction of a regular vote for levy payers on how the levy is spent at least every five years
- 79.4% of those who answered said they want to retain the right for levy payers to trigger a ballot on whether the levy should continue.
AHDB will implement a new regular vote for levy payers on how the levy will be spent, with the first votes on sector plans taking place in April 2022. Eligible companies that want to be part of that vote must register before 12 noon on the 31st March 2022.
The government’s full report on the levy can be found here.
