The sole farming representative on the government’s new national food strategy body has stepped down, The Grocer has learnt.
Former pig farmer Sam Godfrey was named among a group of retail leaders, food manufacturing bosses and academics when the Food Strategy Advisory Board (FSAB) was unveiled by ministers in March.
At the time he said he would bring a ”pragmatic approach” to the process, as the lone voice of farming.
Godfrey is a pig farming veteran whose family sold its business to Cranswick in 2023.
Cranswick chariman and former Tesco executive Tim Smith remains on the panel, despite his role having been the subject of protests after animal abuse allegations against the company.
Jillian Moffatt, GB and Ireland president of McCain Foods, has also announced she is stepping down from the body.
The departure of two of the group’s 13 expert members comes after The Grocer revealed last month the government does not plan to make any major announcements on the way forward for the strategy until at least next spring.
Sources told The Grocer there had been a “wall of silence” on the strategy whose main overseer, farming minister Daniel Zeichner, was sacked in Keir Starmer’s reshuffle in September. Prior to that, No 10 blocked plans for a food white paper to back the strategy of key Health and environmental measures with regulation.
His replacement, the veteran Maria Eagle, told the FSAB she was committed to “driving the food strategy forward”.
She said it had a key role in driving “practical, cross-departmental policy” that supported “health, wellbeing, and actionable outcomes”.
Eagle, according to minutes of the latest meeting, also called for the work of the group to be aligned with broader health strategy and Department of Education priorities.
Sources say the government is prioritising food industry growth after the Defra leadership shakeup.
No comments yet