Encouragingly for Nigel Jenney and his colleagues at the FPC, the response from those who attended the meeting on Wednesday to hear proposals for an all-sector communication campaign to boost fresh produce consumption in the UK, was in the main the one they were looking for.

There were some searching questions asked, not least about the ways and means to find at least £1.5 million from a largely cash-strapped industry over the course of the next three years. But the concept put before the industry was generally accepted as being workable.

The FPC has been advised that a well-run campaign - and the front page story does not outline the entire campaign as it is a mere concept at this stage - should boost consumption by five per cent in three years. Which would raise the value of the UK fresh produce industry by £259 million.

Not a bad return for such a small investment. With a consumption increase already forecast, that figure could appear pale next to the potential pot of gold at the end of this particular rainbow.

What is necessary now is industry buy-in to a single objective on a scale we have never before witnessed. Jenney estimates that a contribution from 70 per cent of the industry would bring the fund to the necessary level to achieve the campaign targets.

Three supermarkets, the government and various trade bodies were there. But as usual the significant stay-aways far outnumbered those in attendance. Not a good omen. But I hope this opportunity is seen as just too good to ignore by enough people to at last make a truly industry-driven initiative a reality.