Food and Agriculture
The South West has the largest agricultural area in England at
1.8 million hectares, as well as over 30% of the UK’s dairy
production. It is one of the strongest food and drink producing
regions and a highly innovative and focused business region.
Innovation within the food and drink sector
covers a wide range of activities including agricultural production
and fisheries, food technology and development and
distribution.
The industry faces a number of scientific and
technological challenges including food safety, animal health,
packaging, waste into energy, rapid prototyping, automation of
labour intensive process and smart and traceable labelling.
Business
The region has over 3000 food and drink
producers, which contribute £3bn towards the South West
economy.
Within the South West there are manufacturers of a wide range of
food and drink products with a strong presence in dairy products,
meat and meat product production and beverage products.
The South West hosts major international brands including
Gerber, Heinz, Cadbury, Ambrosia, Dairy Crest and Kraft as well as
a growing array of local and regional brands. A new emergence of
organic and specialist producers is helping to give the region a
name for quality food and drink produce.
Regional Expertise
University expertise is working alongside business innovation in
areas such as food processing and food safety to ensure the dynamic
growth of the industry. There are over 50 dedicated courses on
offer at the regions universities as well as many dedicated
research centres.