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about the UK agrifood market opportunity
Invest in Lincolnshire's Agrifood Sector: Key Benefits and Opportunities
Lincolnshire is at the heart of the UK’s agrifood sector, enabling investing companies to join industry-leading clusters right across the food value chain, and to access the expertise and technologies required to transform business performance, productivity and sustainability.
The Lincolnshire Agrifood Investment Opportunity
For investing agrifood businesses, Lincolnshire offers:
Agrifood Clusters
Major industry clusters including agriculture, food and seafood manufacturing, advanced agricultural and food technologies, and food logistics
Market Opportunity
Producing 11% of England’s food and enabling direct access to the UK’s growing and transforming agrifood market
Research & Innovation
Leadership in technologies addressing key agrifood industry challenges: improving productivity, sustainability and supply chain resilience
Specialist Workforce
A large, specialised, regional agrifood workforce
Sites & Properties
Available, cost-effective sites and properties including Food Enterprise Zones
Multimodal Connectivity
Fast, multimodal access to UK & global food and drink markets
Dedicated Support
Dedicated support for investing agrifood businesses
The UK Agrifood Market Opportunity
The UK’s agrifood sector presents a range of opportunities for business investment, growth and reshoring.
- 67.7 million UK consumers spending £254 billion annually on food and drink
- Reduced integration with EU supply chains (post-Brexit)
- Renewed focus on food security (post-Covid-19 and recent conflicts)
- The need to develop sustainable, net-zero carbon food chains
- Productivity goals and workforce constraints (a global agrifood industry challenge) driving demand for new technologies
- Growing UK demand for added-value premium and niche products such as vegan, organic, more nutritious and ‘free-from’ foods
UK Consumers
67.7million
UK Market Value
£254billion P.A.By 2030
UK Market Growth
+37%2010-2019
UK-leading Agrifood Industry Clusters and Supply Chains
Lincolnshire’s diverse agrifood industry clusters enable investing businesses to access a deep pool of expertise and a wide range of experienced potential supply chain partners.
Areas of excellence include:
- Advanced industry clusters encompassing major food and seafood producers and manufacturers, leading-edge technology companies, niche product innovators and specialist service providers
- High-productivity agri-tech and food manufacturing technologies, including digitalisation, robotics and automation
- Value-added products, including innovative, more healthy, nutritious and environmentally aware foods
- Supply chain solutions including traceability technologies and more sustainable packaging and logistics
Agrifood and Agri-tech Research, Technologies and Innovation
Businesses investing in Lincolnshire can access advanced, multi-disciplinary R&D and innovation across the entire food chain - to improve business productivity, sustainability and resilience, and enable new product development.
- The University of Lincoln offers a unique nexus of agri-tech, advanced engineering and digital tech competencies, with dedicated research centres applying Industry 4.0 themes and technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), big data analytics, robotics / agri-robotics, sensors, automation and digitalisation to key industry challenges.
- Lincolnshire’s agrifood R&D centres of excellence offer established strengths in core food sector specialisations including safety, microbiology and food processing.
Agrifood Sector Workforce, Education and Skills
Lincolnshire provides access to a large, skilled and cost-competitive agrifood workforce, enabling easier recruitment, faster project delivery and improved productivity for investing businesses.
Benefits for investing companies include:
In food production, food and seafood manufacturing, and a range of other agrifood and related classifications, Lincolnshire provides investing businesses with access to labour forces that are outstanding in the UK in terms of size, concentration and specialisation.
Lincolnshire’s established workforce is complemented by further and higher educational institutions focused on meeting the specialised skills and qualifications requirements of the area’s agrifood businesses.
Sites and Properties for Agrifood Businesses in Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire offers a range of high-quality, cost-effective sites and properties meeting the specific requirements of businesses in agrifood sectors including food production, food manufacturing, food logistics and food R&D.
- Lincolnshire’s three Food Enterprise Zones (FEZs) offer premium accommodation, collaborative environments, accelerated planning, investment incentives, and excellent transport and data connectivity for food industry occupants including research organisations, start-ups, manufacturers and distributors.
- Sites and properties within the Humber Freeport area offer direct port access and potential tax incentives for investing businesses.
Fast UK & Global Market Access for Agrifood Businesses
Lincolnshire provides agrifood businesses with fast, multimodal access to distribution hubs and consumer markets in the UK and worldwide.
Lincolnshire’s strategic location in the East Midlands region of England provides businesses with fast access to:
- Key Midlands food distribution hubs
- The ports of Grimsby, Immingham and Boston
- Major UK freight and passenger airports
- The UK’s major population centres
Support for Your Agrifood Sector Business Investment
Working together, Invest Lincolnshire and our partner organisations, including local authorities, education providers and businesses, provide dedicated support to ensure a ‘soft landing’ for companies locating and investing in Lincolnshire.
Home to Leading Agrifood Businesses
Businesses established in Lincolnshire’s agrifood sector include
Get the Data on Lincolnshire as an Agrifood Business Location
Lincolnshire’s agrifood sector Business Location Guide provides essential information and data for companies researching and evaluation Lincolnshire as a potential investment location, including:
