It’s good to see the NFU on a firm drive to iron out supply chain imbalance and help bring more profitability to growers.

At last week’s FPJ conference in Bristol, and again at the EFFP conference this week, Hayley Campbell-Gibbons highlighted how poorly horticulture compares with other parts of the industry when it comes to profitability.

The task facing the NFU is a tough one, but Campbell-Gibbons has a history of success in this area; like her predecessor Philip Hudson, she is a former chief dairy adviser who has helped secure better margins for milk suppliers to the major supermarkets.

All growers will wish the NFU well, although they will also note that the challenge is bigger than in milk, where a small number of giant processors control the vast majority of the national supply, and where it is easier to match supply with demand and work together to get the industry’s point across. The fact that similar commitments have not been extended to cheese show there is still work to be done.

Nevertheless, the point is a good one. If a supermarket like Tesco, which buys 10 per cent of the nation’s milk, can pay a transparent, guaranteed price above the cost of production for milk, why can’t the same be done for fresh produce?

Surely in these days of food insecurity, growers’ futures need to be guaranteed. Yes, it’s not the retailer’s fault if it is being presented with 10 times more cauliflower than it needs and market forces mean it’s available cheap. But there needs to be more long-term thinking on both sides to make sure everybody can prosper.