Strategy

Fitting sustainability effectively alongside the day-to-day pressures of running a business can often be a challenge, especially for smaller organisations. Green Knight can help you find the right balance so that neither suffers, by helping both to develop environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies and undertaking the actions necessary to deliver them. DEFRA publications over the past 12 months point towards significant changes in resource management and producer responsibility and the scope for carbon sequestration in agricultural soils opens the possibility of engagement from other sectors.

Britain’s agricultural and food businesses will see major impacts as a consequence of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union with changes around the availability of workers, regulation and tariffs all likely outcomes. According to UK Government figures, 30% of the food consumed in the UK comes from the EU, and even the 50% produced in the UK can be dependent on links with the EU. With a significant presence of people from elsewhere within Europe working on farms and in factories, unavailability of labour has already become an issue and even with the putative withdrawal date put back again, there remains little clarity over the outcome on this issue or elsewhere.

The importance of agricultural and food products from the EU will continue whatever the UK’s political relationship with European nations, and the bloc’s environmental and social ambitions will be an important factor in future agri-food flows. With good connections with academics and think-tanks looking into the implications for the sector of regulatory change whether driven by these initiatives, ‘Brexit’ or other considerations, Green Knight is well-placed to help keep you up-to-date with developments.