Supermarket rivalry stepped up a notch this week with the news that Waitrose is to muscle into convenience territory by opening a string of new outlets (p5) and that Sainsbury’s has introduced a more old-school approach to promotions with a multi-million pound voucher scheme (p5).

These latest moves are just two of many against the backdrop of what has become an unforgiving retail environment, in which growers and suppliers are facing pressure from all sides.

Is it really too much to ask that the supermarkets should not forget their suppliers, as the backbone of their businesses, without which none of what they have achieved would have been possible?

At the official launch of the home-grown top-fruit season this week, English Apples & Pears chief executive Adrian Barlow stressed that growers need higher returns to secure the long-term sustainability of the sector (p4).

This is why the agreement made between Tesco Ireland and a group of growers in the Republic to buy set volumes of vegetables at “above market” prices (p1) is an important step forward.

I believe that to ignore repeated calls for fair returns, now sadly familiar across the UK and beyond, will compromise the future of the fresh produce industry as we know it, both at home and overseas. And once the damage is done, the road to recovery will by no means be as swift.