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Under existing inspection regimes, a tangle of 7 regulators carry out more than 125,000 farm inspections a year to England’s 250,000 farms – taking up valuable time and limiting the potential of the farming industry to grow further. Streamlining the process, and making better use of the technology and data, will radically reduce the number of inspections. And by summer 2016, farmers will only have to deal with one Single Farm Inspection Taskforce which will combine farm visits with mandatory checks. It will also use the latest technology to streamline the approach to inspections – for example using satellite data to analyse different crop types in fields.
These changes will also help to create more than £7 billion worth of new opportunities, identified by the CBI, to drive up food and drink exports from the whole of the UK to countries outside the EU, including India, China and Brazil, creating more rural jobs, bringing greater investment to local communities and growing the British economy. This will build on more than 600 markets opened since 2010 – securing access for lamb to China alone could be worth a potential £60 million to our economy. Use of the GREAT brand to promote UK food and drink abroad will also be increased.
The government is also committed to increasing Protected Food Names from 63 to 200 – with Carmarthen Ham and Welsh Laverbread expected to be confirmed later this summer.
In addition, the creation of a new UK-wide Food Innovation Network will give small and medium-sized businesses greater access to existing world-leading technology and science, helping them innovate and grow.
Thursday July 23, 2015/ Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs/ United Kingdom.
https://www.gov.uk/
