Standing up for food producers

Yet, despite this unprecedented rate of expansion, the public’s awareness about the source of food, and the unrivalled quality of local produce, means there are some new business opportunities for farmers and suppliers.

The challenge is ensuring that their supermarkets, operating to different financial margins to the rest of the food industry, offer value for money – while respecting the costs incurred by producers.

The key test, therefore, of the Government’s belated move to set up a new supermarket ombudsman is whether this post will be able to champion the interests of the Dales dairy farmer who is struggling to stay in business because of the demands of major food stores.

Ministers have much to prove, even though their sentiments are probably with the agriculture industry. The ombudsman’s jurisdiction will extend only to the 10 UK businesses with an annual turnover in excess of £1bn.

Furthermore, the record profits that continue to be accrued by Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons mean that any financial sanction is likely to make a minimal material difference to their bottom line.

However, in many respects, these are issues that cannot be reconciled until the Groceries Code Adjudicator is actually created. It’s been a lengthy wait – longer than a typical checkout queue – given that this body was first discussed a decade ago.

Since then, the rate of progress has been painstakingly slow, and it has taken nine months for the proposals to reach the pre-legislative stage following publication of the Competition Commission’s findings last August.

Given that both the Tories and Liberal Democrats promised to champion the interests of farmers and food producers before the last election, it is now essential that the Government accelerates its proposals.

Having repeatedly accused the last Labour government of failing to pay sufficient heed to the financial importance of the countryside, it would be remiss if the coalition – made up of two parties steeped in rural communities – proceeded to do likewise. For there will only be one winner: the supermarkets.