Serious problems continue to plague the fresh produce supply chain which may force growers to reduce the amount they produce, according to an NFU report, launched on Wednesday.
 
NFU horticulture board chair Guy Poskitt unveiled Catalyst Revisited, an update to the NFU’s first Catalyst for Change report, launched three years ago, which highlighted a culture of poor practice in the fresh produce supply chain.
 
On Wednesday, NFU’s Mr Poskitt said that although progress has been made against the NFU’s initial recommendations in 2012, growers responding to the union said they still face a culture of intense price pressure and competition for market share.

At the end of September, the Grocery Code Adjudicator’s office revealed that only around a quarter of small suppliers to supermarkets had received any training on the Supply Chain Code of Practice, which governs relationships in the sector. Adjudicator Christine Tacon said that the legally binding code has been in place for five years, and an ombudsperson has been in post for two, but the majority of supermarket suppliers have still never received any training in the code, whilst “Retailers are required by the order… behind the code to train their buyers every year.”
 
Ahead of a speech at the launch of the report, Mr Poskitt said, “A lot of progress has been made since we launched Catalyst for Change three years ago; Aldi has become the first retailer to endorse the NFU’s Fruit and Veg Pledge – our charter for best practice in the supply chain; there are some encouraging signals from other retailers seeking a longer-term deal with suppliers; and the Groceries Code Adjudicator is proving effective in curbing abuses of the Grocery Supply Code of Practice.”
 
However, he said, there are still major issues, including growers who are fearful that, given pricing pressure in recent months, retailers may be “regressing to short-term thinking.”

The NFU horticulture board chair said, “The supply chain now faces a choice. Growers have the choice to grow less produce to manage their exposure to risk; retailers have the choice to do things differently, and we’d like them to choose to pledge their longer term commitment to British horticulture by signing up to the NFU’s Fruit and Veg Pledge and be part of the sector’s success as it fulfils its great, and growing, potential.”

This week, the government announced further food policy promises, including the founding of a Great British Food Unit and Campaign, which will increase efforts to drive up exports and consumption of British foods. However, experts have warned that this policy is failing the environment and the people of this country, and that the government must “invest heavily in rebuilding horticulture, because fruit and vegetables have to be at the heart of any good food system [and] Britain’s horticulture is actually shrinking.”
 
Highlights of the NFU report:
 

• The UK is 58% self-sufficient in vegetable production, a fall of 3.3% since 2010 and 11% self-sufficient in fruit production, a fall of 1% since 2010;
• The value of field vegetable production has fallen 14% (to £885 million) since 2010; the largest drop in value occurred in the last year;
• In 2013 the total area of land used for growing outdoor vegetables fell by 7,000ha;
• Imports of fruit and vegetables to the UK were 18 times higher than the volume of exports in 2014;
• The value of imported produce is increasing, creating a UK trade deficit of £4.7 billion in fruit and vegetables in 2014;
• Britain imported 5,790,000 tonnes of fruit and vegetables in 2014. An increase of 664,000 tonnes compared to 2010. The increase alone is enough to fill almost 6000 Boeing 747-400 freight planes or 25,000 standard cargo ship container crates, which if laid end-to-end would stretch from Big Ben to Dover.