The AHDB launched on 1 April 2008. Unfortunately, but as expected, the industry has not received the Board with open arms.
The new Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) launched on 1 April, replacing the five independent agricultural and horticultural levy boards. The idea behind the new structure is to get better value for levypayers' money, for example, by commissioning single research projects on topics that cut across a number of sectors. Administration costs should also decrease with one 'back-office' for the likes of IT, staffing and accounts. It might even result in 'synergies' by pooling promotional budgets for the benefit of British food as a whole. But, despite these good intentions, a number of issues have already clouded the reorganisation.
Many of the benefits are unlikely to be felt until all the new organisations move into the AHDB premises in Stoneleigh, which is set for 2009. Until then, staff at the various sector companies will remain in their existing offices. But the move itself is causing problems, as many experienced staff are unlikely to relocate. When the National Farmers Union (NFU) moved its headquarters to Stoneleigh in 2005, less than half of its staff made the switch. Some industry players also see the NFU itself as a problem: there is a feeling that the move to Stoneleigh might allow the AHDB to be too influenced by the NFU. This has been a particular concern of the livestock sector, which believes that the sector companies have to retain autonomy in order to reflect the wishes of the levypayers in that sector.
Furthermore, when the move does happen, the current disparate set of organisations will need to be welded into a coherent body. Some are sceptical as to whether a larger organisation will necessarily deliver the cost savings envisaged. But the levy organisations can contribute greatly to a flourishing agricultural industry. It has to be hoped that a few years down the line this reorganisation is actually seen as the catalyst that brought a dynamic new body into being.
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