All articles by Sam Fortescue – Page 5
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Retailers open their hearts, and wallets
Free computers for farmers? Clothing made from 100% Fairtrade cotton? Quick supplier payments? It's a far-cry from the accusations of bully-boy tactics levelled at supermarkets in the Competition Commission inquiry. In fact, it doesn't...
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Growers' failed hopes hit price of table olives
Olive prices are set to soar this year because of poor judgement by producers in the Mediterranean. Prices in contracts with UK traders have risen as much as 10% already, with a strong chance of further rises in the summer. Spanish...
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Welfare scandal set to hit organic says Holden
It is just a matter of time before a major animal welfare scandal hits organic food, according to a leading figure in the sector. Soil Association director Patrick Holden told The Grocer that many shoppers would be disappointed if they...
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Sainsbury's brings IT to beef farmers
Sainsbury's is to give up to 500 of its beef farmers a computer each in a bid to boost their efficiency and cut costs. The retailer hailed it as the first move of its kind and the most tangible evidence yet of a supermarket bridging the...
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Gunnell to champion healthy British chicken
Former Olympic hurdler Sally Gunnell has been signed up as the face of British chicken in 2007. Her participation marks the start of a £1m campaign from British Chicken Marketing, which is looking to capitalise on the meat's health...
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Living La vida local
Local food is poised for massive growth this year. It has already bloomed to nearly £4bn in annual sales, according to IGD, and now the multiples are set to ramp up their local offers in response to consumer worries about the environment, food...
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Invoicing: stage two springs into action
Dairy industry leaders are braced for a Christmas of discontent, as milk price protests kick off. Farmers for Action boss David Handley has vowed to bring out the barricades next week unless processors make progress securing milk price...
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No risk to humans from BSE failures, says FSA
More than one in 10 beef cutting plants is failing key BSE checks, according to a nationwide FSA audit. Banned vertebral column from beef carcases has entered the human food chain as a result, although none is thought to have gone for...
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Eat in Colour to kick off gastronomic pleasure
After more than a year of delays, the Eat in Colour campaign is finally getting off the ground. The generic promotion for the fruit and veg sector will take its first steps into the public domain on 1 January, with the launch of...
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Defra signals u-turn over pollution fees
Defra is considering an eleventh-hour climbdown on how much farmers pay for pollution controls coming in next year. At the British Poultry Council awards last week, food and farming minister Jeff Rooker raised concern about the high...
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First GM potato trials in UK set to go ahead
Genetically modified potatoes that resist blight will be planted in England, after Defra gave the go-ahead for trials next year. BASF will plant in Derbyshire and Cambridgeshire to see how the crop performs in British conditions, but it...
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Battered, yes, but not bowed
The bombardment of southern Lebanon and renewed hostilities in Gaza have dominated the national media for months and fuelled rising fears about instability in the Middle East. Yet for the Israeli companies that produce and import food and drink...
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Scientists battle over organic chicken taste
Organic chicken is fattier and less nutritious than standard chicken, new research claims. The University of Strathclyde's scientists said tests on supermarket-bought chicken breasts showed organic ones contained fewer Omega-3 fatty acids...
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Industry blasts Defra welfare labelling plan
Defra proposals for a good-better-best welfare label on food products have come in for flak from the industry. Following the launch of a 12-week consultation period last week, the proposed bronze, silver and gold labelling system has...
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Business blooms in the desert
Few British shoppers realise it, but they are taking home more produce than ever before from Israeli fields, groves and orchards. Of the £140m of produce imported into Britain by Agrexco and Mehadrin Tnuport Export, about three-quarters...
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Russian ban threatens disruption to EU meat
Russia and Poland are firing the opening salvos of a meat war that could cut prices across the EU. Russia has threatened it will no longer allow traders to import meat from the EU as of 1 January. The ban is on the pretext that...
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RDC unloading delays 'cost growers fortune'
Sluggish unloading at supermarket distribution centres is costing small growers a fortune, they claim. Abuse of the just-in-time delivery system regularly keeps trucks waiting for hours at suppliers' expense - even though growers face stiff...
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Abattoirs air big beef on price-fixing claim
Abattoirs have denied allegations by the National Beef Association that they are engaged in cattle price manipulation. The NBA said some farmers were "allowing themselves to be conned by a handful of influential abattoirs into thinking...
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Farmers struggling to adapt to subsidy loss
Even England's most efficient beef and lamb farmers are making big losses, new figures from EBLEX show. Only the top third of intensive beef finishers make any sort of profit. And suckler producers, vital in producing calves finished for...