To ask the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development what consultation was carried out on the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute 2020 Strategy, to ensure that the ongoing and future research needs of farmers remained a core part of its design.

The development of AFBI’s 2020 Strategy was driven in part by the significant budget pressures facing the public sector as a result of reductions in the Executive’s block grant.

I consulted on DARD’s draft 2015/16 budget spending and savings proposals from November 2014 to February 2015. This included the proposed £3m scaling back of the work programme assigned to AFBI by DARD. Responses to that consultation were received from a range of industry stakeholders.

Going forward, DARD’s research agenda is defined within its Evidence and Innovation Strategy which is currently being refreshed. This will define the evidence needs of my Department as well as addressing the innovation needs of industry.

Although AFBI is our primary research provider, it is not our sole source of research and development.