Plimsoll Publishing has got it all wrong in its conclusion that “many fresh produce companies are not worth the risk for banks to lend to”.

Even the most successful companies in fresh produce are operating on tight margins, with many of the biggest firms reporting pre-tax profits of under £1 million.

That is a reflection of the challenge of working in the fast-moving perishable food sector, where market returns are narrow and production costs high. It is not a signal, as Plimsoll seems to indicate, that many are on the verge of going bust.

What Plimsoll is saying is tantamount to suggesting that much of the fresh produce industry isn’t worth investing in. That’s nonsense.

Without bank loans, the industry will be unable to reinvest and build more modern infrastructure that will allow producers to get better operating margins.

The widely predicted spate of company failures, mergers and acquisitions has so far failed to materialise. Yes, companies have cut their cloth, made a few redundancies and perhaps cut back their spending in certain areas. But the industry is weathering the toughest economic time for a generation in impressive fashion.

Of course the industry would rather be working on more than the average two per cent profit margin that we are seeing at the moment. But if the government is telling the banking industry to be more careful of who it lends to, it is important it makes clear the need to keep faith with the fresh food sector.

The future of UK food production depends upon it.