Depending, I suppose, on which way you look at it, the agreement by the Competition Commission announced late last week to take a close look at the relationship between supermarkets and suppliers could be considered a victory for growers and suppliers.

At least the subject will get what many growers and distributors alike consider is a justified airing. The question, of course, is whether the commission can act on any submissions given anonymously, and whether they are valid if they only relate to specific, and probably past, occurrences.

On the face of it, there is weighty evidence already out there of the damage the larger retailers are doing to our food industry. In the national and trade media, there have been plenty of emotional examples of small specialist producers who have not found it profitable enough to pursue their craft. It is claimed that our food heritage is being damaged by a lack of retail support.

In fresh produce terms, in my own experience touring packhouses and farms since the days when the multiples wore nappies, I have been privy to a world where the rules have undeniably changed but they have not been made easier.

The carrot that has been dangled, of course, has been the profit from increased production, vast orders, and sometimes a degree of supply exclusivity, which at the same time has appeared to offer stability as well as protection.

It is not uncommon, though, to be told of buyers changing their minds at the last minute despite programmes being carefully laid out months ahead, leaving growers and suppliers with the headache of big volumes of fresh produce with no home to go to. Suppliers have also been dropped on a regular basis in recent times because of what has been politely called “rationalisation”.

I have seen examples of research into new products taking several months and often costing thousands of pounds - at the customer’s behest, but not at its expense - only to be summarily dismissed due to a change in policy.

And as a blanket overall, no-one has escaped the constant demand for costs along the distribution chain to be pared.

But the question is, does this really add up to a one-sided relationship in which everything is stacked against the producer, or is this the inevitable outcome of a free market?

The fresh produce industry, despite its seasonality and wide sourcing outreach, now operates in a world that is becoming so standardised that the parameters have become similar to all other grocery products, most of which do not share the same advantages or limitations.

The main difference is that when compared like-for-like, British horticulture is working on a far smaller scale than food manufacturing, and has to make a commitment to growing crops much further in advance, as well as take on the inherent risks of weather and disease.

Whether these anomalies give the commission anything to bite on is, in my opinion, highly questionable. The best outcome might be the public acceptance by retailers of the realities of the situation and the agreement of some form of compensation for decisions that affect suppliers in the worst-case scenarios - which possibly already happens in some cases anyway.