http://www.rfgyh.co.uk/taste-magazine/ Taste Magazine from the Regional Food Group. en team@rfgyh.co.uk Copyright 2009 2009-12-01T10:37:05+00:00 http://www.rfgyh.co.uk/index.php/taste-magazine/december-09-just-champion/ http://www.rfgyh.co.uk/index.php/taste-magazine/december-09-just-champion/#When:09:37:05Z Foreword by Rt Hon Rosie Winterton MP Minister for Yorkshire and the Humber Food is big business and a big factor in the economy of Yorkshire and the Humber. We produce 14% of the UK’s food and drink and the sector has more than 1,000 firms with a total turnover of £8.2 billion and employing over 50,000 people. Behind these headline figures are many individual successes which deserve celebrating. I am delighted to have been involved in the fifth deliciouslyorkshire awards which showcase the ‘best of the best’ in our region’s food and drink. Of course, many of these achievements have been made despite the current difficult economic conditions. The Government recognises the challenges and has created a national framework of support measures which are being delivered at regional and local level. Real Help Now, for example, offers a wide range of help for business. These can be accessed through Business Link Yorkshire (BLY), a single portal for all government-backed business support schemes. BLY itself provides financial health checks. These can help identify a business’s strengths, weaknesses and other types of support needed. So far nearly 8,000 businesses in Yorkshire and the Humber have taken advantage of this service. Much is being done on a regional level to ensure we emerge stronger and more resilient from the recession. Over a year ago I set up the Economic Delivery Group (EDG) with members from all the key public and private sector agencies: Yorkshire Forward, the Learning and Skills Council, Confederation of British Industry, Federation of Small Businesses, our local authorities and unions. The EDG is charged with driving our region’s response to recession and to prepare for economic recovery. It is vital to take a proactive approach to the opportunities the upturn will offer this region. It is essential that businesses continue to train and skill staff and to develop the next generation of workers. Again, the Government has developed apprenticeship and other schemes to encourage investment in our workforce and, in particular, through Backing Young Britain, in our young people. At a national level, the Government is committed to publishing regular assessments of the food security situation, as well as producing a comprehensive cross government strategy to develop a sustainable and secure food supply, to be launched in early 2010. As a net importer of food, it is crucial to our food security that we maintain a diversity of supply. Going forward, I am certain that the food industries in Yorkshire and the Humber will continue to thrive and play a key role in our economy and prosperity. As the deliciouslyorkshire Awards demonstrate the sector is innovative, adaptable and enterprising. PDF magazine - free to download 2009-12-01T09:37:05+00:00 http://www.rfgyh.co.uk/index.php/taste-magazine/september-09-net-gains/ http://www.rfgyh.co.uk/index.php/taste-magazine/september-09-net-gains/#When:16:28:34Z Foreword by Julian Wild, a solicitor and corporate finance adviser who has spent more than 30 years in the food industry, and is food group director at Rollits, a Hull and York law firm. Our industry is facing considerable challenges in the current economic climate, but we should be positive and upbeat in Yorkshire and Humber. I think that we’ve seen the worst. There is evidence that confidence is increasing and the economic situation will strengthen in 2010. We know that people will always buy food and drink and, because of that, the industry has been fairly resilient during these tough times. To survive and grow, businesses have adapted to changing consumer buying habits, developed innovative new products and are exporting more. We are clearly seeing down-trading in the market, with consumers either looking for cheaper alternatives in supermarkets, or switching to discount retailers such as Aldi, Netto and Lidl. Most major retailers are still doing well, in particular Yorkshire-based Morrisons and Asda, with Tesco fighting to hold on to its large market share. Their ability to adapt to changing consumer buying patterns is the reason not only for their success, but for their market dominance. Interestingly, all major retailers have developed their own ‘white label’ range of cheaper alternatives to help them retain and attract customers. Take Waitrose, whose ‘Essentials’ range has literally gone from nothing to over £100 million value in only three months. New product development is also hugely important for business growth and survival at any time, and even more so now, particularly in this region where we have some of the most innovative companies in food and drink. Any company that can develop imaginative and exciting new products always attracts interest from major retailers, and there is a great deal of support available from the Regional Food Group and Yorkshire Forward to help businesses. As a former Council member of Food from Britain, I believe that now is a fantastic time for our region to export more food and drink. However, it comes with a cautionary message. You can’t just decide to export and expect that the next day your goods will be heading out of the country. You need to have the right product, know your market, customers and competition, and it takes time, investment and a lot of planning. There is a great deal of support available to food and drink businesses that want to innovate, export and perhaps make acquisitions or disposals and I firmly believe that business support mechanisms for the Yorkshire and Humber food and drink sector are the best of their kind in the UK. All businesses should be constantly reinventing themselves so that, rather than stand still, they are fit, lean and positioned for growth. PDF magazine - free to download 2009-09-01T16:28:34+00:00 http://www.rfgyh.co.uk/index.php/taste-magazine/may-09-meet-the-eggheads/ http://www.rfgyh.co.uk/index.php/taste-magazine/may-09-meet-the-eggheads/#When:16:25:12Z Foreword by Judy Bell, Chief Executive, Shepherds Purse Cheeses Ltd To maintain our rural food economy in Yorkshire and the UK, we must support the raw food industry. As raw foods include milk, cereals, beef, pork and chicken, they serve as a product in themselves and most of the country will eat meat and drink milk every day. However, these raw foods also serve to fuel the regional food industry. Local producers like ourselves strive to create the very best cheese and ice cream, bread and cakes, beers and wines, but to create this quality produce we are reliant on quality raw materials. That we get these raw materials locally matters. The challenges we have all faced are many – none less important than the fluctuations in price that have filtered through the markets at varying rates over the past three years. Following the increased cereal and fertiliser price in 2007-08, we witnessed the milk price slow to catch up. Many farming families were pushed out of the industry as it became almost impossible to make ends meet. For those that managed to survive they eventually saw their margin return. For producers like ourselves it took at least six months for the majorm multiples to react to the market and increase the prices to the end consumer. For the small producer or farmer, these delays are very difficult to ride out. We must respond faster. Alternative uses for our raw foods will also threaten our local food industry. For example, as demand rises for wheat for the production of biofuel, our bakery industry must forge links with quality growers to secure a consistent supply and preserve their industry. We must value our local quality produce. The answer to these challenges can only be found in a more responsive community that has a shared vision to create the very best produce made from quality raw foods and continue to innovate year on year. A more responsive community can only come through shared knowledge and understanding. There are challenges ahead for the food industry in the region and we need to build good working relationships with our suppliers, with our customers and with each other. By listening and understanding we will be able to react to every challenge and take advantage of every opportunity. We are fortunate in Yorkshire to live and work in such a great county. The recent launch of a new tourism initiative, Welcome to Yorkshire, encompasses the quality and diversity of food production in this beautiful, diverse county and highlights the tremendous talent we have in the region’s eating establishments. This is building upon the work of the Regional Food Group over the past eight years, which encouraged hotels, restaurants, B&Bs and pubs in the county and beyond to use local seasonal products. This has opened up a local market for all businesses large and small. Visitors to the region seek out the products and request details of availability in other regions when they return home. We must seize the opportunities that are presented by this initiative. In a world where we are trying to consume less, what we consume matters more. Quality is more important than quantity and quality resides in regional produce. PDF magazine - free to download 2009-05-01T16:25:12+00:00 http://www.rfgyh.co.uk/index.php/taste-magazine/march-09-crunch-times/ http://www.rfgyh.co.uk/index.php/taste-magazine/march-09-crunch-times/#When:16:30:56Z Foreword by Nigel Pulling, Chief executive Yorkshire Agricultural Society The current economic climate poses challenging times for all of us, not least for farmers and the food and drink industry as a whole. Farmers and local food producers have to adapt their activities to meet the demands of consumers, keen to support the production of quality, locally-produced food, but who also want value for money. Producers need to understand exactly what their customers want and consistently deliver, emphasising that their Yorkshire grown food is fresher, tastier and can have a greater nutritional value than food that has travelled miles or which has been processed and refined. The myth that regional food is more expensive is being exploded every day. Added to the need to meet consumer demand, regional producers must also keep an eye on the bigger picture and their role in providing a sustainable food supply. Estimates suggest that by 2030, 50 per cent more food will need to be produced worldwide. Encouragingly, the British farming industry, which has shown a lot of resilience, is in good shape to help meet this challenge. While we will always need to import some foods and products because of our climate, the UK’s reliance on other countries is diminishing as more and more people move to support their local food and drink communities. As well as harnessing this support and continuing to deliver the goods, we also need to further the innovation we are witnessing in farming and food production. Positive attitudes within the industry are helping to make farming and the food sector a career choice once again, and collectively we need to do all we can to encourage quality people into roles to help us advance further. The Yorkshire Agricultural Society has long been a champion of farmers and food producers and we inform consumers about the importance of regional food through a number of activities from key annual shows to the recent Farmhouse Breakfast for schoolchildren and the Great Yorkshire Cookery Competition. Later this year we will open a new regional food shop and café – Fodder − which will give consumers access to a huge range of Yorkshire products and enable us to promote the importance of ‘local’. Consumers’ greater attention to quality and provenance is great news for the UK’s food producers, but particularly for those in Yorkshire and Humber because as a region we produce some of the finest food in the country. PDF magazine - free to download 2009-03-01T16:30:56+00:00