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This report investigates the intense challenges facing the food and grocery manufacturing industry, future economic trends, and key reforms needed to improve the industry's sustainability, profitability and competitiveness. Using a combination of economic modelling, interviews, and surveys with industry leaders, the report concludes that food and grocery manufacturing is facing pressures on many fronts. Retailer concentration, a high Australian dollar, low-cost country manufacturing, energy prices, global commodity volatility, and labour scarcity will continue to create challenges for the sector.

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The skills gap is set to grow not diminish, demonstrating that huge challenges remain. This report aims to help inspire change by providing an insight into students' thinking and the choices they face. The report lifts the lid on the decision-making process of those students that choose to move away from science and maths before [Advanced] A-Level. In the future business will be increasingly dependent on digital knowledge and numerical analytics, which puts a high premium on maths and physics skills in young adults. As the report shows, the challenge for [the UK] is that science and maths are still seen by students as too abstract and theoretical, with little real application and suited only to the very bright. It also shows that students are unaware of the opportunities that even basic knowledge in these subjects can provide: opening doors to almost any job, in almost any sector. These skills are in high demand in the working world, but if students remain unaware of this they will continue to turn away from maths and physics at A-Level. The additional, unfortunate consequence of this means that UK firms will struggle to find the skills they need in the future.

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