**London**: The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has reached out to Minister Daniel Zeichner with preliminary findings on improving fairness in the food supply chain, highlighting areas such as inflation impacts, risk sharing, and contractual reforms ahead of a crucial evidence session.
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee has reached out to Food Security Minister Daniel Zeichner MP, outlining its preliminary findings from the ongoing inquiry into ‘Fairness in the food supply chain’. This inquiry aims to address various challenges faced by the agricultural sector and improve the interactions between farmers, supermarkets, and consumers.
The Committee has identified five crucial areas that require the government’s attention to enhance fairness and resilience within the food supply chain. These areas include:
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Impact of Inflationary Pressures: The Committee aims to assess how rising input costs and inflation are affecting farmers, particularly concerning their profitability.
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Equitable Risk Sharing: They propose promoting a fairer distribution of risks along the food supply chain, ensuring that both producers and retailers share burdens equitably.
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Contractual Reform: Essential reforms in contractual practices are suggested, namely advancing the introduction and implementation of fair dealing powers across all sectors of the food supply.
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Groceries Supply Code of Practice: The Committee is urging a review of the Groceries Supply Code of Practice and the resourcing of the Groceries Code Adjudicator to ensure effective monitoring and regulation of supermarket relations with producers.
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Information Sharing Mechanisms: There is a call to establish formal systems for information exchange between the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator and the Groceries Code Adjudicator to streamline operations and transparency.
In a letter detailing these findings, interim conclusions have been highlighted concerning each area. MPs plan to delve deeper into these subjects during an upcoming evidence session with the Minister scheduled for Tuesday, 1 April.
This correspondence precedes the introduction of the Food Supply Chain Fairness Bill by the Committee Chair, Alistair Carmichael MP, in Parliament. In a statement regarding the issue, Carmichael noted: “Customers are facing higher prices for food at the shop check-out whilst farmers are not receiving a fair reward for their products or a price that covers their own increased costs at the farmgate.”
He highlighted the low profit margins experienced by farmers, with many facing situations where they either break even or incur losses. “But our inquiry has heard of specific concrete measures, which the Government could look to implement relatively easily and in a short time frame to address these imbalances in the food supply chain,” said Carmichael, emphasizing the potential for mutual benefits for both consumers and producers if the government takes practical steps to improve fairness in the supply chains.
The findings and recommendations from the EFRA Committee’s inquiry signal a critical moment as legislative measures may soon be tabled to rectify existing disparities within the UK’s food supply system. The outcomes of the forthcoming evidence session are expected to contribute significantly to the shaping of future policies affecting food security and equity for both farmers and consumers alike.
Source: Noah Wire Services
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