The food chain's ability to compete more effectively in global markets will be a major feature of "radical recommendations" from the Commission into the Future of Farming and Food.
And with just three weeks to go before the Commission's report is publicly unveiled, the man who has headed the probe, former MLC chairman Sir Don Curry, is holding private individual meetings with the chief executives of major retail chains.
He told The Grocer on Thursday: "I do not want to release this report into a vacuum, where it sits on a shelf and nothing happens.
"And while I cannot reveal our recommendations until they have been seen by Tony Blair and Margaret Beckett, I want to get the big retailers' support. It is vital that government and industry is prepared to hit the ground running when our radical recommendations are unveiled,"
Curry gave the prime minister a preliminary report into the Commission's findings at a private Downing Street briefing before Christmas and the finishing touches are expected to be put to the draft at a meeting in London next week. Publication of the report, probably during the week beginning January 28, is set to spark a fierce national debate about food and farming. Coincidentally, its release will come just one week before the influential annual meeting of the NFU in London, which DEFRA secretary of state Margaret Beckett is expected to address.
Talking to The Grocer this week, Curry admitted that the UK's ability to compete effectively in world markets had been one of the strongest topics under the Commission microscope.
He said: "Our survey has been an enlightening experience, even for someone like me who has been around the industry for a long time.
"Obviously some of our recommendations will not come as a surprise, but others will be very challenging for government and industry alike."
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