Speaking on Monday, ahead of the LAMMA conference, the chair of the Tenant Farmers Association welcomed this week's report from the EFRA select committee, which demanded an urgent review of the remit of the Groceries Code Adjudicator.

TFA chair Stephen Wyrill said, "The TFA has long argued for a Retail Adjudicator with teeth.  It is quite evident that the powers given to the current Groceries Code Adjudicator are insufficient and that they should be reviewed without delay."

The MPs' recommendations were tailored to helping dairy farmers who are struggling with price cuts. Wyrill said the report was evidence of the extent to which dairy farmers have suffered deep and unnecessary price reductions in the wake of difficult global trading positions.

He continued, "What is happening in the dairy industry should be a wake-up call for other sectors.  Retailers and processors are using their market strength to drive down returns to dairy farmers who can do little to protect themselves from the onslaught.  Whilst there might be a short-term benefit for consumers, these activities are never in their long-term interests as it leads to significant restructuring with production increasingly being driven into larger, indoor, intensive dairy farm systems which consumers seem not to want to support and of course more imports of dairy products."

Although the supermarket ombudsperson was appointed in early 2013, there have been no investigations launched into possible exploitative practices in the two years since the office was created. What is more, the watchdog is still unable to hand out fines to any retailers found to be breaching the Groceries Supply Chain Code of Practice, and can only intervene on behalf of direct suppliers to supermarkets, ruling out most milk suppliers.

Mr Wyrill pointed to trade magazine The Grocer on Monday, saying, "A recent article in the Grocer cited over 20 ways in which retailers extract money from suppliers.  These activities are well known and have been allowed for too long.  The Government must take urgent action to ensure fairness in supply chains. [The EFRA report] calls for the Groceries Code Adjudicator to be able to initiate no-warning investigations of retailer activity.  OFSTED can do this with schools so why shouldn't the Adjudicator be able to do this with retailers?"

The TFA chair said the adjudicator should also be allowed to report on price transparency, adding, "Too often it is impossible to track who benefits from the difference in price between the farm gate and the supermarket shelf.  We are not asking the Adjudicator to set prices but it must have a role in reporting price transparency."