Tesco UK CEO Ashwin Prasad has urged the government to prioritise new measures to protect the resilience of UK farmers in next month’s expected food strategy policy announcements.
Speaking at the NFU Conference yesterday, Prasad called on ministers to prioritise data and innovation in the supply chain to give a “level playing field to farmers”.
“Farmers tell us they do not want more research that sits on the shelf,” he said. “They require practical, on-farm solutions that solve challenges and deliver results.”
Prasad described the lack of help to provide supply chain data to farmers as a huge “missed opportunity”.
Defra is set to reveal the next phase of its food strategy in March, having been criticised last year for failing to prioritise growth for UK businesses and support for farmers in the shift towards net zero.
“The food strategy must set a long-term vision for UK agriculture that creates a level playing field for all parts of the food industry, and protects the high standards we have developed,” Prasad explained.
“We must give all of you [British farmers] clarity on the role you can play in the UK’s wider transition to net zero, as welll as create the right policy conditions for you to be able to invest in, and benefit from, that transition.”
Prasad said be believed the Farming Profitability Review, led by former NFU president Minette Batters, could play a part in supporting the sectors included in the long-awaited strategy.
One of the recommendations of Batters’ review, published in December, was for Groceries Code Adjudicator Mark White’s current advisory set of principles over CPIs, published in January 2022, to be turned into regulation.
GSCOP’s guidance advises that retailers must in good faith and without duress recognise the supplier’s need for certainty regarding costs and risks, including all terms of supply in writing and reasonable notice to vary supply agreements or make changes to supply chain procedures .
There is some speculation Defra plans to prioritise such policy areas, having appointed another former NFU president, Peter Kendall, and Barfoots group CEO Julian Marks to its Food Strategy Advisory Board in December,
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