Horticulture Crop Protection Ltd September update

Introduction

As you know the AHDB commitment to provide the EAMU service comes to an end in 7 months. Consequently, the industry has a comparatively short time scale to put alternative arrangements in place.
The steering group which has been working on the new arrangements has continued to meet through the summer to progress plans for the new arrangements.

The New Company- Horticulture Crop Protection Ltd

We have engaged Shakespeare Martineau to prepare the governing documents and are now reviewing the first draft. The plan is for the new company Horticulture Crop Protection Ltd to be owned by the network of Crop Associations (and other equivalent bodies for crops which don’t have a grower association). Directors will be drawn from the member’s associations; this will ensure the industry has complete control over the costs and activities of the new company. The ownership structure will also mean it is answerable to the industry.
As a not-for-profit organisation, the new company will operate as a ‘company limited by guarantee with each crop association becoming a member of the company with the individual liability of each member limited to £1.

Personnel

Based on information provided by AHDB Horticulture we anticipate that the new company will need circa 4 staff to deal with the technical work. This will need to be supported with some administrative and finance back up.

How Much will the New Company Cost?

We are currently working on the baseline costings for the company and once these are complete, we can share these. At this point, the industry needs to have a conversation about the most equitable way of sharing these costs across all sectors of UK Horticulture.
We think it should be possible to break out the running costs to determine the basic cost of running the company, the cost of an EAMU application and the cost of the residue testing which forms an integral part of an EAMU application. This should help to ensure that all the costs are transparent, and growers have an accurate idea of the cost
of an EAMU application.

AHDB Residual Funds

We are also in conversation with both AHDB and Defra about the residual funding within AHDB Horticulture and the possibility of using some of the funds to pump prime the EAMU activities.


Ongoing Activity

It is important that we transition from the current arrangement to another as seamlessly as possible Ideally, we don’t want to lose 12 months of work. This means that the individual crops need to work through their crop associations during the autumn to identify the key crop protection risks so any trials data required to accompany an EAMU application can be set up in time for next spring.

Feedback

This new approach is only going to work if it has sufficient backing. It is important that the working group has feedback from growers. We are happy to receive any constructive feedback and if there is any aspect of the current proposition about which you want to express a view, please email me at jack.ward@britishgrowers.org or John Chinn john@cobrey.co.uk
John Chinn – Chair Horticulture Working Group Ltd
Jack Ward – CEO British Growers

Update 24/10/2022

AHDB responds to horticulture industry request

AHDB board confirms surplus funds can be used to support the new company.

  The horticulture sector has spoken and the AHDB has acted to  support the industry and Defra in securing the long-term support for EAMU/EA work for the Horticulture sector.

  Following careful consideration of the implications and to ensure the ongoing essential work in connection with EAMU/EA services the AHDB Board has agreed, in principle, for the transfer of surplus levy funds to the new company Horticulture Crop Protection Ltd (HCP). It is envisaged the funding will bring a degree of certainty and enables important ongoing work  to continue as the new organisation develops its operation.

  Discussions are still taking place between the parties on the exact details of the arrangements, but industry associations have wholly signalled their support of a new voluntary subscription model as proposed by HCP and the move is considered a natural follow-on from the work previously undertaken by the levy board.

  It is anticipated the sum involved is in the region of £1m over a period of time and the transfer of these levy monies is subject to Defra approval.

  During the period of transition from the existing system to the new organisation the team at AHDB are managing the pipeline of work to give the new organisation the greatest chance of success.