City Food & Drink Lecture focuses in the supply chain for 2040
City Food & Drink Lecture panel 2025. Credit: City Food & Drink Lecture
The 24th annual City Food and Drink Lecture was held recently in the Guildhall in the City of London in the UK. It looked at, “Preparing to farm in 2040, with success,” with its keynote speaker the chairman of a supply chain group of companies for fresh vegetables, covering the UK, Czech Republic, Poland, Spain and Senegal, John Shropshire, OBE.
Shropshire, the chairman of the G’s Fresh group of companies, offered an assessment of what was needed to deliver a successful UK food supply chain from the perspective of a primary producer, the first such to give the lecture as a primary producer.
Food security and financial sustainability came first and foremost in his thoughts. Demonstrating his drive and sheer determination, he reminded the 650 members of the audience not to export abroad the UK’s carbon footprint in the sector by becoming more dependent on imported food. “The challenge was ours to solve and one we should embrace,” he noted.
Efficiency and relentless investment in the people involved in the sector, its image and new technology were all required to seize this opportunity Shropshire said. “Soil is our most precious resource, and one we must learn so much more of,” he observed.
He notes that resilience and doing the right thing by continuously adapting is the way forward and the farming industry must embrace new technologies such as AI and precision farming. Shropshire went on to unpack his views on succession and family farming stating, “The biggest challenge for most family businesses is the high value of land relative to its earning potential and we should be focused more on how well we farm and how well we care for our soil and the wildlife on the farm. There is too much status attached to the value of land and not the management of farming,” he noted.
Sustainability was another topic. Shropshire said, “We need to care for the environment, be responsible stewards of the land and leave it in a better condition than we find it, while supplying the nation with healthy, fresh produce. To do this, we must embrace innovation.”
He concluded this year’s City Food and Drink Lecture with the following key points: “Climate change is a threat to the world but it is also an opportunity for British farmers in its temperate climate, if they adapt and invest to realise it. We must relentlessly invest in the future – in soils through regenerative farming techniques, in wildlife and biodiversity, in new technologies and in analysing this data to inform decision making.
Above all we must listen to consumers and customers and never stop learning.”
The panel discussion that followed the lecture highlighted a series of critical topics impacting the food and farming industry. Katie Pettifer, chief executive of the Food Standards Agency, highlighted the importance of purpose and respect in retaining talent within the food sector, advocating for a strategy that balances growth, sustainability, affordability and health. Henry Dimbleby, Henry Dimbleby, co-founder of Leon restaurants, the lead non-executive director at Defra and co-author of The School Food Plan, an independent review of the British food systems, stressed the UK’s food sector as the largest employer and called for addressing exploitation and boosting exports. Jack A Bobo, director of the University of Nottingham Food Systems, encouraged making food and agriculture more appealing to young people, while John Shropshire emphasised the challenge of promoting fresh produce consumption, particularly in schools, and overcoming price-driven consumer habits.
The City Food & Drink Lecture is the leading food and drink industry event in the City of London focussed on the sector, and is organised and supported by the City of London, along with the eight founding livery companies most close to the sector.
