Government must do more to protect farmer income and preserve fairness in UK supply chain, says House of Commons committee

A cross-party group of MPs is urging Defra to protect farmers and address imbalances in the UK’s food supply chain.

The House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee (EFRA) yesterday (18 March) wrote to Defra minister, Daniel Zeichner MP, detailing findings from its inquiry into ‘Fairness in the food supply chain’ and suggesting concrete measures government should take.

In its letter, the committee identified five key areas for Defra to address:

  1. The impact on farmers of inflationary pressures and rises in input costs;
  2. Promoting more equitable sharing of risks throughout food supply chains;
  3. Reforming contractual practices in supply chains by progressing the introduction and implementation of fair dealing powers across all sectors;
  4. Considering the scope of the Groceries Supply Code of Practice and the resourcing of the Groceries Code Adjudicator to monitor and regulate supermarkets’ relations with producers;
  5. Establishing formal mechanisms to facilitate information sharing between the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator and Groceries Code Adjudicator.

The committee’s letter lists interim conclusions in each of the above areas, which MPs intend to explore and test further as their inquiry develops.

EFRA members will question Zeichner on these issues in an evidence session on Tuesday 1 April.

The letter came ahead of the committee chair, Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland), introducing his Food Supply Chain Fairness Bill in Parliament today (Wednesday 19 March).

Speaking ahead of his Bill, Carmichael said: “Customers are facing higher prices for food at the shop check-out whilst farmers are not receiving a fair reward for their products or a price that covers their own increased costs at the farmgate.

“The current debate around farmers’ incomes has put the spotlight on the situation and revealed the low profit margins that many farmers make on their produce, sometimes even ending up with zero profit or actual losses.

“But our inquiry has heard of specific concrete measures which the government could look to implement relatively easily and in a short time frame to address these imbalances in the food supply chain,” he added.

“We are urging Defra to review the evidence we and our predecessor committee has taken and take practical common sense actions to improve fairness throughout supply chains. This would be a win for consumers and a win for producers.”  

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