As is the custom with trade publications these days, the FPJ shuts up shop over Christmas, so this will be my last column of 2006. As such, it seems as good a time as any to look ahead to the coming year.

One of the first stories to hit the headlines will inevitably be the government overview of supermarket trading practices. Whatever the outcome, my view is that it will make little difference to any arrangements that are already in place with category suppliers.

Producers, despite their solitary role as category managers, still work together on the basis of supplying fewer, larger customers more economically. What is said publicly, if at all, is often starkly different to what goes on behind closed doors. So, after the brouhaha, little can be expected to change.

In anticipation of continuing to trawl round the retail shelves most weeks, I am expecting additional sources to close up the seasons even more, which will in turn put pressure on price.

And it may be more of a struggle to win shelf space as prepared and semi-prepared produce continues to advance. Who knows what will come next?

If 20 years ago I had forecast that supermarkets would be selling packs of mashed potato in the fresh selection at prices vastly above the cost of the raw product offered only feet away, I would have been laughed out of court.

Meanwhile, I hope that edibility will feature more strongly in terms of offering the consumer produce that is perfectly ready to consume. Science may have come a long way in helping trigger products such as avocados, top fruit and stonefruit, but I for one, have experienced several ready-to-eat purchases which hardly live up to the promise. It has been the same with melons for years.

Perhaps hope lies with the eventual availability of labels, which actually change colour to indicate maturity. If there is a winner anywhere it has to be there.

And speaking of winners, it will be interesting to see how much longer the government will pump money into fruit and vegetable schemes designed to increase consumption by way of the classroom. Nothing is forever and reading the reports this year I got the feeling that, however worthy the cause, there might be the occasional second thought creeping in.

Which brings me neatly, and finally, on to the much-belated launch of the industry’s own Eat in Colour campaign, which will soon be displaying its rainbow hues hopefully to dazzle those who have contributed and encourage those who, so far, have not.

What I have gathered, however, is that the campaign will concentrate solely on promotional activities and leave the politics to the FPC. In this particular instance I mean providing an immediate response to the press when mixed messages and scare stories hit the headlines, which is just as important as cranking up consumption.

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