Pictured above: Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal

Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal has opened the new West Midlands Regional Food Academy (WMRFA), based at Harper Adams University College in Shropshire.

Regional Development Agency Advantage West Midlands awarded Harper Adams University College more than £3 million to develop and operate the academy to provide a variety of services and activities in support of the food industry in the West Midlands - particularly for small and medium sized enterprises.

The WMRFA is situated in an old mill building at the centre of the Harper Adams campus. The mill has been renovated and converted to house a range of food technology facilities, including a product development kitchen, processing hall, cheese room, taste panel room, focus group room, instrumental analysis room, seminar room and a central teaching theatre, which will seat 100 students and allow hands-on demonstrations for training courses, school visits and public events.

Her Royal Highness toured the new facility with Sir Roy McNulty, Chairman of Advantage West Midlands, Dr David Llewellyn, Principal of Harper Adams, Ralph Early, Director of WMRFA, and a party of dignitaries including Algernon Heber-Percy, The Queen's Lord-Lieutenant for the county of Shropshire.

The Princess also attended a debate on the future of food security, chaired by Sir Roy McNulty, which took place in the new academy's lecture theatre before an invited audience.

The panel of experts for the debate included Dr Alec Kyriakides, Head of Product Safety at Sainsbury's Supermarkets, Justine Fosh, Director of the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink Manufacturing, and Dr Steven J Walker, Director General of Campden BRI, the UK's largest independent membership-based organisation carrying out research and development for the food and drinks industry worldwide.

At the end of the debate, Her Royal Highness officially opened the new academy by unveiling a commemorative plaque.

Sir Roy McNulty said: "We are delighted to be able to support the Region's food industry, working with Harper Adams University College here in Shropshire.

"I believe the new academy will be an excellent asset for the Region, making a real difference to the economy of the West Midlands, as well as drawing national and international attention to the key role that the West Midlands plays in the production and processing of food in the UK.

"The food and drink industry has many challenges ahead - climate change, healthier ingredients (salt, fat and sugar reduction) and an aging workforce. Solutions to these issues will come from support for the knowledge sector, and for people to develop the skills to address these challenges.

"The new centre will also help to deliver two key priorities of the West Midlands Economic Strategy: to promote a learning and skilful Region and to create conditions for business growth and economic growth, both of which are crucial in helping to increase productivity."

Dr Llewellyn said: "I think it has been a tremendous day. Not only because we had the chance to bring food businesses, other supporters of the food industry and Harper Adams staff together, but also because the Princess Royal is tremendously supportive of the concept of the food academy, and she spoke very warmly of what it will be doing to help support the food industry and to tackle skills shortages in the sector."

Ralph Early said: "It's absolutely fantastic to get somebody with such a high profile to come here and open the regional food academy. The Princess is so knowledgeable. She has such an insight into the problems of the British food industry and the problems of farming, so to hear her wisdom on food and farming was, to my mind, the highlight of the day.

"The purpose of the WMRFA is to energise interaction between the Region's food industry and higher and further education institutions and centres of technical expertise, as well as raising the profile of the West Midlands' food industry.

"The topic of food touches on almost every academic interest within Harper Adams, from agricultural food production through to food tourism and food engineering. The University College is therefore a good choice as the higher education institution in the West Midlands to lead the WMRFA project for the long term benefit of the Region's food industry and the West Midlands economic development."

Justine Fosh said: "The food industry is the largest manufacturing sector in the UK, three times the size of automotive. But the security of the domestic food industry is an issue, with more than 130,000 jobs to replace in the next ten years. We currently struggle to recruit at the level needed to replace that knowledge and skills. We need to place the food industry firmly back on Government's agenda.

"Places like this academy will make a real difference in the future. It is a fantastic centre."

Dr Kyriakides said: "From Telford to Thailand, Chester to Chile, we should be proud that we produce some of the safest, healthiest, freshest and tastiest foods in the world.

"There is a fantastic role for a regional academy like this, which provides the opportunity to develop skills across a very dynamic supply base, to ensure businesses are more technically and commercially competent."

Dr Walker said: "Agri-food issues are back on the national agenda and this academy is well placed to participate in that debate.

"At the same time, food science graduates actually have high employment prospects, with some great opportunities, which we need to communicate much better if we are to attract fresh talent in greater numbers."

Alison Blackburn, Chair of the Board of Governors at Harper Adams, said: "This academy was simply an idea in somebody's mind three years ago and yet here we are together today in what will be a very important facility for the Region and the food industry. The WMRFA exists to bring skills and facilities together with the best ideas and best emerging talent in the industry. It will undoubtedly strengthen the supply chain.

"Without the vision of Harper Adams staff and the support of Advantage West Midlands - for which we are most grateful - this project would not have happened."

Ralph Early added: "The thing that came out most significantly in the debate was the question of how should we interest young people in jobs and careers in the food industry? That is a question that really needs to be addressed and it's a matter of working with the education system so that food and the food industry become properly understood with secondary education and people then aspire to work in the sector.

"We want to work with the food industry and we want to find food businesses and universities and colleges that will work with us so we work in collaboration for the good of the British food industry, particularly for the West Midlands food industry, so it's about building partnerships.

"In a world where issues of food security and food supply chain resilience are of increasing concern to governments, businesses and citizens, and where food prices are rising, national strategic thinking about the UK's food supply system will inevitably move towards ways of reinvigorating and increasing national and regional food production capability and capacity. 

"Harper Adams is very strongly placed as one of the few institutions in the UK that has the ability to address these issues in informed yet pragmatic ways, including the provision of training and education in relation to food production and processing.

"The creation of the WMRFA will reinforce and develop the University College's role as the UK's leading institution specialising in food from 'farm to fork'."