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Similarly, in Wales certain regions have created action plans for their agricultural industries which includes integrating more of the food processing and supply aspect of the food chain within their region, thus enabling them to benefit from the added-value of a resource that had previously not been available to them (Greer 2005, p.194).
It is argued by researches that creating a more localised food processing sector within the agricultural regions, where farmers and producers can be more directly involved with other areas of the food chain, including preparation, distribution and marketing, will produce positive results in terms of the financial stability and growth within the farming and rural communities.
Summary
It is clear from the research that has been carried out into agriculture, that there is a need to address the decline within the industry, which as can be seen from figure 1 (page 7 of this report) has fallen by ten percent in the last decade. The majority of this research shows that the last three decades have seen a consistent decline in the fortunes of the industry, both in terms of its economic value to the UK economy as a whole, and in relation to employment statistics. Some researchers see developing the food processing industry within the agricultural regions as the way forward and the route to prosperity. The question is whether this theory is supported by the facts within the areas being used as a case study in this paper.
Chapter 4 Research Methodology
Research objective
Within the introduction section of this study, the four key objectives for the research were outlined. The research into how the agricultural industry has developed, particularly in relation to United Kingdom provides essential background information, which will assist in understanding why these areas have become of such concern to government and non-governmental organisations over recent decades. The choice of Cornwall and Wales for the case study is appropriate because in the case of the former, much attention over recent decades has been concentrated upon developing the tourism attraction, rather than agricultural needs of the area. Wales provides a much larger agricultural environment, which has to compete with small pockets of heavily industrialised regions, specifically on coastal areas.
Food processing, up until the last decade, has been seen mainly as an industrial activity and therefore it is important to understand how the transfer of this activity to agricultural regions has both evolved and to what extent the case study areas have benefited from this latest development. Similarly, as an integral part of this area of research, the relevant synergies will provide a better understanding of the basis for accuracy of the hypothesis.