Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency (CREA) and its Distinctly Cumbrian programme hosted an influential gathering at Redhills near Penrith on Tuesday 2 September. An invited group of key people reviewed the impact of recent investments in the Cumbrian food and drink sector and discussed approaches to the future.
“There are several organisations working on different aspects of business investment and development,” said Bob Clark, CREA’s Executive Director, who hosted the event, “and we wanted to bring them together in a Forum to explore how we can best work together and make a positive difference for the years ahead.”
Sir Don Curry, who Heads the Government’s Sustainable Farming and Food Strategy Delivery Group, chaired the Forum and was pleased with the outcome of the afternoon’s discussions: “A lot of progress has been made but a lot of work is still to be done. To build on past progress, there is a need to follow through on strategy for tangible results.”
Pauline Herbert of Distinctly Cumbrian, Richard Greenwood of Cumbria Vision and Pat Foreman of Food Northwest made the initial presentations to the Forum.
“We wanted to set the scene and celebrate successes so far,” said Pauline. “I included three examples of Cumbrian businesses that have had grants from Distinctly Cumbrian in the past, Millstone Barn at Bootle, Lakes Speciality Foods in Staveley and Cumbria Contract Bottling in Lillyhall. All three have used grants from us to develop not only their own businesses but also those of other small producers in the area.”
Pat Foreman, who is the Chief Executive of Food Northwest, the lead food agency in the region, set the scene of food development across the Northwest but then concentrated on the opportunities within Cumbria. “I particularly wish to see many innovative small and micro businesses benefiting from the Cumbria Food Technology Centre at Penrith,” said Pat.
Richard Greenwood, Chief Executive of Cumbria Vision – the organisation leading on economic development in the county – said: “Cumbria Vision recognises food and drink as one of the six priorities for economic development in the Cumbria, and we have forged close links with the Northwest Regional Development Agency and Food Northwest to ensure this important sector thrives. With this in mind, we continue to give strong support to existing food and drink initiatives in the county, such as Made in Cumbria and Distinctly Cumbrian. Cumbria Vision is now working hard to build on these successes in our long-term push to establish a high-quality Cumbrian brand for food and drink.”
Invited guests for the discussion included representatives of Cumbria County Council and its Made in Cumbria programme, the University of Cumbria, Hart Distribution, Cumbria Tourism and the Burn How Garden House Hotel, Business Link, Cranstons, Bailey Ground Farm on the west coast and Westmorland Limited.
Alistair Urquhart represented the Westmorland Group that includes Rheged, Tebay motorway services and Farm Shops and The Westmorland Hotel. “We aim to support local farmers and producers across our businesses,” he explained. “This Forum has given us the opportunity to shape the strategy for future support of the food and drink sector and I was delighted to have the chance to meet the key players and get involved.”
“We devised the Forum to mark a time of change in public funding for food and drink businesses,” concluded Bob Clark. “The outcomes of the day show that, as long as we keep talking and working together, the sector can continue to thrive, grow and contribute to a healthy economy in Cumbria.”
|
