by business editor Trevor Sturgess

Farming chiefs want Kent to become the UK’s food hub amid mounting concern over future security, population growth, funding, supermarket relationships, and looming labour shortages.

Their ground-breaking Rural PLC (Kent) annual report, published today, confirms that the county’s land-based sector is worth more than Marks & Spencer.

If it were a company, it would by ranked 57th in the FTSE 100 with net assets of £5.4bn, compared to £5.1bn at M&S.

Leaders seek to raise the county’s profile as the “food hub of the UK,” with commitment to enterprise promotion and job creation, especially attracting more recruits in a sector over-reliant on migrant labour and facing an ageing demographic.

It also wants to “correct” an unbalanced relationship with supermarkets that call the shots rather than the producer.

The report proposes a food investment bank that would do away with the need for farmers to chase grants, better return on expenditure than the current slim 2%, and more help for rural enterprises.

The report spells out the challenges facing the farming and rural business sectors, but also spotlights their “outstanding” growth potential.

Mike Bax (pictured above), chairman of RPK, High Sheriff and director of BTF Partnership, Challock, said: “Without domestic produce there is no food chain in the UK – global pressure consistently threatens to erode this.

The food chain needs to change fundamentally. Currently, the downstream end [supermarket] exerts far more influence and is better invested than the upstream end represented by the producer. This is not consistent with other industry sectors and we need to turn this round.”

Mr Bax added: “Future food security is a key international concern and farmers are being asked to grow more food on the same land area using less water, fertiliser and pesticides whilst simultaneously reducing adverse impact on the environment.

How are farmers and growers going to be able to achieve this on their own? It is a fact that challenges such as these need solutions - and solutions embrace opportunities.”