Can we change the way producers add value to their products?

Henry Buller

University of Exeter

Meeting the Challenge

By Adding Value

By Improving Efficiency By Diversifying

If farmers plan well and understand the needs of their markets, they can increase their incomes by enhancing the value of their output. Entering a value-added market can help to cushion farmers against the price volatility of commodity markets (Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and

Food 2002, p.39 ).

We believe that one of the greatest opportunities for farmers to add value and retain a bigger slice of retail price is to build on the public’s enthusiasm for locally produced food, or food with a clear regional provenance. Increasing the market share of such food would have benefits for farmer and consumer alike (Policy Commission on The Future of Farming and Food and Farming, 2002, p.43)

The CAP will eventually go and commodity food prices will continue to be under pressure. Farmers need to be ready to meet this change by adding value … (DEFRA 2002, p. 17)

“…cleaning and cooling, cooking, combining, churning, culturing, grinding, hulling, extracting, drying, smoking, handcrafting, spinning, weaving….”

packaging, processing, distributing, labelling, marketing, selling …

more than just food … locality, breed, environment, health, access, biodiversity landscape, naturalness, …

Adding Value

Capturing and Retaining Value

Creating Value

Eating Biodiversity: an investigation of the links between quality food production and biodiversity protection

• Examining selected examples of specific food production chains that fully integrate biodiversity as an explicit means of generating distinctiveness and adding value

• Offering an inter-disciplinary perspective by positioning biodiversity and environmental quality as an integral 'input' to, and component of, food quality and product value

• Developing opportunities for ‘win-win-win’ situations where farm enterprises can gain added value from producing high-quality products in terms of taste and nutrition from significant biodiverse pasture types

• Providing evidence and analysis of the positive relationship between food quality, animal diet and natural biodiversity

Grassland species diversity

Animal feed composition

Meat quality

Meat Taste

Economic viability

Grassland Management

Explicit commodity value

Intrinsic natural value

Study Area Farms

Adding Meat Quality (health and taste) Value

Differences in pasture biodiversity can positively affect meat quality. Breeds more suited to biodiverse pastures yield higher meat quality.

• Increased levels of Vitamin E• Lower levels of skatole• Higher levels of certain nutritionally healthy fatty acids

Adding Environmental Value• Increase in the area under permanent and unimproved grassland• Maintenance of species rich pastures through extensive grazing management• Reversing the loss of priority habitats

Adding Value to the Farm Businesses

• Premium prices can be obtained for quality products - particularly through specialist outputs

• Responding to a clear and expanding consumer demand for quality products

• Realising the latent value in existing systems

• Linkage to other forms of on-farm diversification within farm business

• Local employment generation

• Local and regional networking

• Marketing and selling

• Consuming

• Adding value / Creating value / Restoring value

Three End points