Speaking at the Zeraim Gedera seminar on vertically integrated marketing, Jimmy Russo, director of UK-based Valley Grown Salads, stressed the importance of supply chain togetherness.

“It is incredibly important to us that people who work with us are happy with the relationship and want to be involved,” he said. “We encourage growers to come and have a look at our facilities in the UK, to see how we operate, to see the UK supermarkets for themselves and meet the buyers. It is vital that we all understand the day-to-day issues that we all have and are part of solving each other’s problems as well as sharing the successes.

“VGS is dedicated to developing our own business in a profitable manner and also ensuring that both our own staff and our growers are able to remain in control of their own destinies. It is obvious that the supply chain has come under mounting pressure in recent years and that costs have increased significantly, but we have to manage that together.”

Within VGS, which is a supplier of salads to Waitrose and Sainsbury’s, Russo said additional demands have increased the management team from four to 12 in the last five years. “We are all working just as hard as we have ever done, as are our counterparts, but for a packer in the UK the average profit level now is 1.9 per cent and that is extremely low if we are all hoping for long-term survival.

“It is not a particularly healthy situation for the industry as a whole. Every day is a challenge in this industry - it doesn't matter what you do, which is why we prioritise the issue of profitability throughout the chain.

“Despite this, one of our points of difference as a company is that we are making considerable investments in our future - we are happy to share that with our growers.”

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