The formal closure of what was once one of the envies of the industry next week should sound alarm bells for the UK produce sector as it tries to hold its own in a notorious grocery market.
The fall of Watton Produce shows how unrelenting price pressure has the severest consequences, not just for individual businesses but for the future of the wider industry.
The incident is the latest in a series of knocks for the industry that has seen Israeli exporting giant Agrexco struggle to find a buyer and a “crisis of confidence” hit the foodservice trade as analysts predict a new wave of consolidation.
As FPJ went to press, a major importer looked to be teetering on the edge of administration.
It’s interesting then that MPs have tabled an early day motion to push for British growers to receive a fair trade classification to protect against supermarket exploitation (p5).
As a source told FPJ this week, “profit is not a dirty word” - without it, the industry will not have the capital to reinvest, boost productivity and improve its offer.
This could only jeopardise the fresh produce business in the long term and make it almost impossible for the industry to produce more from less and feed the nine billion mouths forecast for 2050.
This is central to this month’s House of Lords report on the development of EU agriculture, which is calling for changes to combat an “innovation-hostile environment” (p16).
The reality is that a profitable industry is one of the biggest facilitators for progress. Let’s not leave it too late.
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