TRURO: Cornwall Chamber of Commerce has warmly welcomed the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, to Cornwall on 15 August 2026, using the visit to showcase an innovative business community already tackling food security challenges, and to call on the Government to back the industry-led work now underway across the county.
Toby Parkins, Interim Chief Executive of Cornwall Chamber of Commerce, said: “It’s a real pleasure to welcome the Prime Minister to Cornwall. Farming and food production are one of the foundations of our economy, and food security is one of the defining challenges of our time, so it’s genuinely encouraging to see it getting this kind of attention. What we’d most like the Prime Minister to take away is that Cornwall isn’t waiting to be rescued. We have an ambitious, innovative business community that is already hard at work on these challenges, and we’re proud of it.”
That work is being led in large part by the Chamber and its partners. Its Cultivate Cornwall working group, supported by Cornish Mutual, brings the agri-food sector together to develop practical, industry-led solutions to the challenges facing farming. Chamber partner Innovation Nursery has created a leading, forward-thinking innovation space in Cornwall where new ideas to tackle food security and wider sustainability challenges are being developed, tested and brought to life. And through the Chamber’s partnership with the University of Exeter, whose world-leading research at the Environment and Sustainability Institute on the Penryn Campus makes Cornwall a global centre for environmental science, that innovation is underpinned by academic expertise of the highest calibre.
Toby Parkins added: “Our ask of the Prime Minister is a positive one. Back the great work that’s already happening here. Champion industry-led initiatives like Cultivate Cornwall, get behind innovation spaces like Innovation Nursery, give farmers and food businesses the long-term certainty they need to invest, and use Cornwall as a place to pilot and prove the answers the whole country needs. Food security is national security, and if Government backs the momentum that already exists in Cornwall, this county can help feed the nation for generations to come.”
Cornwall Chamber of Commerce said it stands ready to work with the Government, Cornwall Council, its partners and its members to build on the visit and support the county’s food producers and innovators.
