Special Episode: Peter Kendall talks food & farming

Sir Peter Kendall reveals all about his time at the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board – after serving six years as AHDB chairman.

In this special interview – recorded just days after Sir Peter left the AHDB – he tells Farmers Weekly chief reporter Johann Tasker that:

• Queues outside supermarkets during the coronavirus crisis are a stark reminder that farming should be at the centre of government policy
• It would be “bonkers and insane” for the UK government to allow in cheap food imports that don't meet UK standards.
• Treasury rules are a "pain in the backside" and government bureaucracy sometimes slowed down important AHDB decisions
• Growers and livestock producers should be given a vote on whether AHDB levies should continue – and how they should be spent
• The government must be more ambitious if it is to work successfully in partnership with British farmers and UK agriculture
• Farmers must play their part in raising productivity – rather than suggesting that failing to do so is someone else's fault

An accompanying article, Sir Peter speaks out on food security, was published in Farmers Weekly magazine on 17 April 2020.