Agri-food sector worth £122 billion to UK economy, new figures reveal

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Nicky Godding

The importance and economic value of the British food and farming industry must not be overlooked in the Brexit discussions to come, the NFU said today after it published new Defra figures as part of its State of the Farming Economy report.

The data has shown that the contribution of the agri-food sector to the national economy increased from £113 billion to nearly £122 billion in 2017, and that UK food and drink exports increased by 2.5% to £22.6 billion in 2018.

There are also even more people now employed in the UK agri-food sector, with the number surpassing 4 million.

NFU President Minette Batters said: “Defra’s latest figures reinforce the importance of the British food and farming industry both nationally and globally, and its value must not be forgotten as we head back into Brexit discussions.

“Farming is the bedrock of the UK’s largest manufacturing sector, food and drink, which provides the nation and wider world with safe, traceable and affordable food produced to world-leading animal welfare, environmental and food safety standards.

“Given farming’s value to the UK economy and the huge number of people it employs, we must ensure that food and farming in Britain is at the forefront of Brexit negotiations when the House of Commons returns and talks begin again in earnest.”

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.