UK Food Valley

The UK Food Valley is a sector growth programme supported by industry, the research and knowledge community, and the public sector. It champions the area’s leadership in the UK food chain, aiming to be a global top 10 food cluster, with 75,000 employees and 6,000 companies. The Food Valley is seeing major investment, over £2.5 billion invested in the last five years, creating over 7,500 jobs in the end-to-end food chain.

The Food Valley supports investors by working to secure the future workforce and skills, innovation support, access to premises and infrastructure, including energy, water and transport systems, needed to support growth. It works with planners to create a welcoming environment for food companies.

The Food Valley focuses on three major cross-industry themes: automation and digitalisation of the food chain to drive efficiency and support high-value jobs; the delivery of low-carbon food chains from farm to fork; ‘naturally good for you’ food and protein transition.

The Food Valley supports growth in all sectors of the food chain, but is focusing on three major industry sub-sectors where it is seeing the fastest growth: fresh produce and controlled-environment agriculture; fish processing and aquaculture; and food logistics and cool chain.

Why invest in Greater Lincolnshire?

Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland is currently experiencing an unprecedented era of growth and is undoubtedly one of the investment hotspots of the UK. The geography is vastly unique, from the Humber to the Wash, covering 2,700 miles with a population of 1.1 million. Our game-changing sectors include the Humber Freeport; renewable energy; the UK Food Valley; Food Enterprise Zones (FEZs), including the South Lincolnshire Food Enterprise Zone at Holbeach and Europarc III Food Enterprise Zone at Grimsby; and defence and security. Our thriving universities are some of the fastest-growing in the UK, providing access to a growing talent pool, fuelling academia, and creating a skilled workforce. Wide-open spaces and fresh air regulate and invigorate innovation.

Offering a range of high-quality, cost-effective sites and property solutions for all types of investing businesses, from specialist logistics and sector sites, employment parks, start-up hubs, or shovel-ready land ripe for development, we are strategically located to enable fast, multimodal access to UK and international markets. Our ports put your customers at easy reach wherever they are based. Our sites offer fast access to both UK and global markets, either via road, sea, air or rail.

If you are interested in finding out more about Greater Lincolnshire, please take a look at our sector propositions and get in touch at investment@lincolnshire.gov.uk