It is a brave man who is prepared to predict anything for the next 12 months, particularly when it comes to fresh produce. But I have the feeling that over the long break, the minds of the great and good have been more than active.

Certainly it requires no crystal ball to see that retailing will be even more competitive, putting the squeeze on margins back down the whole chain.

Just how this will affect producers and distributors is far more complex, and will vary according to product, but I would not be surprised if category suppliers find themselves expected to enter into even closer relationships, which could ultimately lead to total exclusivity.

After all, supermarkets have always seen one of the added benefits from "partnership" as a sophisticated way of also denying their competitors equality.

Many companies have already installed an additional level of management, often described as marketing, charged with coming up with, and testing, new ideas and products. On the periphery I expect to see even more shapes, colours and tastes being publicly announced, perhaps simply for no other reason than to score a point of difference.

As part of this trend, neither will it surprise me if we hear more of apples that taste like pears, or oranges like grapefruit - let alone arrivals which are variously described as everything from giant to traditional.

Neither are the bulk lines, which provide the profits - be they deciduous, citrus, salads, vegetables or roots - inviolate.

Technology can be expected to play a greater part to ensure fruit in particular reaches new optimum ready-to-eat levels, which in turn will influence packaging and presentation.

And how far off is the day when customers may be able to check the ripeness of loose fruit in the store, using machines next to the scales? The concept already exists, thanks to Israeli scientists and has been around for over a decade.

Meanwhile, what would be nice, and I am sure would be a boost to consumption, would be for retailers to pay more attention to stressing seasonality beyond English strawberries, asparagus, apples or Jersey potatoes.

It might go a long way towards combatting criticism over food miles, and give an added boost to the government's 5 A Day campaign. By the time 2006 arrives, supermarkets may consider the campaign has run out of steam and has become so depleted in value that the message is just another piece of advice on packaging.

In this vein, I long for the time when the editor in his beneficence will take me to a restaurant which makes the point of proclaiming that it is serving the first Cornish spring green of the season, or the new arrival of Canary Island tomatoes in its salads.

But I fear this vision may be a long time in being realised.

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