The NFU has today said that new food supply chain measures announced by Government show a positive direction of travel in protecting the rights of farmers, but that the announcement does not go far enough.

In response to part two of the Government’s GCA review, the NFU said it looks forward to working with Defra to develop the detail of these measures and improve them to ensure fairer and lawful supply chains for farmers.

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NFU President Meurig Raymond said the response from Defra and BEIS does not show the full extension of the GCA, which the NFU has strongly made the case for – but, he added, there has been a shift from the status quo.

Mr Raymond continued: “The evidence within the GCA’s consultation shows that we have an imbalance of power within our UK supply chains. But the measures that have been announced to address this do not go far enough and it’s an opportunity missed. This, for us, is the beginning of a journey to improve the supply chain for our members.  

“Dairy farmers already have contracts; what we’d like to see is minimum standards in those milk contracts to ensure that farmers are protected against unfair clauses such as those requiring exclusivity, unbalanced variation of terms and short notice price changes. And while we praise the step towards standardising sheep carcase classification, we still have multiple concerns as to transparency within the sheep meat sector that will need addressing.

“It’s clear the Government recognises that there is an imbalance of power in the food supply chain and that is bad for farm businesses and they are showing some positive will to address this.  In addition, the £10 million collaboration fund will be welcome news for all farmers and we look forward to seeing more detail.

 “What comes out strongly in this announcement is the fact that the GCA is here to stay – and not only that, the scope of the GCA has the potential to widen to include more businesses such as Boots and Amazon. This is positive for our industry and we again will be using this as an opportunity to push for further extension of the GCA role.

“The GCA plays an important role as watchdog for the industry, developing measures so that farmers can produce food for the supply chain in a fair and lawful way. The NFU will continue to work with the GCA herself and the team at Defra to ensure it’s working effectively. In that vein, we will be responding to the consultation which, we are pleased to see, has already been given a timeframe.”  

Senior CLA Rural Business and Economics Adviser Dr Charles Trotman said:

"The failure to extend the remit of the Groceries Code Adjudicator to include relationships of primary producers with processors or manufacturers means farmers, who do not have contracts directly with the largest supermarkets, will continue to suffer from the imposition of unfavourable contract terms, delays in payments, and unreasonable notice of price reductions. The Government must urgently reconsider and ensure the GCA can hold all those across the supply chain to account for substandard practices.

Although there are some welcome measures announced today that will help in particular small farmers compete in what is an increasingly competitive market the failure to extend the remit of the GCA significantly overshadows all of these".

NFUS President Andrew McCornick said: ““Having consistently campaigned for an extension to the remit of the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA), and waited two years for the publication of the UK Government’s response to the GCA consultation, NFUS is disappointed at the decision to rule out extension of the remit at this time.

“Whilst this is a missed opportunity, the package of measures outlined in the UK Government’s response are worthy of consideration and NFUS will take time to examine and respond to them in due course.

“However, NFUS is confused and concerned by the stipulations within the response that these measures will be taken forward in England only. As a matter of urgency, NFUS is investigating whether there is any intention to consult Scottish producers and Scottish Government on the implementation of these measures.