Benn calls for better technology transfer

Environment secretary Hillary Benn has called for better transfer of the results of government-sponsored research to improve the efficiency of businesses along the food chain.

Speaking at a reception organised by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) in Westminster, London, last week Benn stressed the importance of R&D.
But he added: “We also need to transfer the knowledge we get from the R&D. Because it’s no good doing the work if nobody knows about the results and nobody takes it up. I think that is a big task that we have got; trying to improve the efficiency of the food chain.”
AHDB chairman John Bridge said: “We neglect [R&D] at our peril. R&D’s is the AHDB’s largest spend area and we recently appointed a chief scientist, professor Ian Crute, to ensure we get the absolute most out of it.”
Bridge also announced that the AHDB’s move to its new home at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire was expected to be completed by the end of July. He said that half the staff from AHDB’s six sector companies had already moved and the rest would have followed by the end of this month.
“It’s not been easy moving six businesses; over 400 senior staff; recruiting a further 100 locally and assembling the IT and financial infrastructure, which had to work from day one,” he said.
AHDB was established in April 2008 to replace five levy-paying bodies: the British Potato Council, the Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA), the Horticultural Development Council (HDC), the Milk Development Council and the Meat & Livestock Commission (MLC).
AHDB now has six sector companies, which report to its main board: HDC, covering horticulture; EBLEX for beef and lamb; DairyCo for milk; HGCA for cereals and oilseeds; BPEX for pigs; the Potato Council; and MLC Services.
Over the past year the AHDB had achieved £3.8M of savings through the amalgamation of ‘back-office’ and other central services, such as market intelligence, reported Bridge.