Just what is a partnership?

News items coming across my desk this week pose an interesting question over the definition of “partnership” among the various sectors of the trade and particularly in relation to the retailers.

The term is much used in the fresh produce industry, although it probably originated at a time when marketing boards and wholesale panellists dominated distribution.

Today, it is one of the most hackneyed descriptions used when referring to arrangements between retailers and growers, even though it may be through the filter of a category manager who is not a producer. So away from the razzamatazz of public relations what does it really stand for? Perhaps, as Humpty Dumpty said to Alice in Through the Looking Glass: “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.”

But to be truly meaningful does partnership have to be more than a trading arrangement? In an industry where there may be thousands of words defining product specifications, there are staggeringly few actual contracts. As a result I suspect that anyone in the industry will be interested in a series of Waitrose TV ads charting the progress of its foundation in South Africa.

Simply explained, it is a trust embracing the exporter, importer and grower that is already providing funding out of profits to benefit the health and education of workers on selected farms.

The ads may be playing their part in raising Waitrose’s profile, but the concept also breaks new ground beyond Fairtrade which has many of the same objectives. The multiple - and one should not forget that it is also a mushroom and top-fruit producer in its own right - is now directly involved long-term overseas and using a logo on the fruit to reinforce the point.

On a different tack it never ceases to amaze me how virtually no corner of the globe has remained untouched when seeking something new or seasonally advantageous. There would have been few, even in the pineapple industry, who would have considered Togo as a source for organic fruit, but Tesco has claimed another first. Maybe, then, there is a chance of revitalising those other niche supply sources which once had a part to play.

It reminds me of when I worked in old Covent Garden and at Christmas the Azores was a major source. The islands even added value, although salesmen never thought about it in such a sophisticated way. The fruit was packed in wood wool in stout slatted wooden cases and sold extremely well. But there was also a thriving market selling the containers to pigeon fanciers to carry the birds on British Rail to the far corners of the UK when the racing season got under way!