The Commission on the Future of Farming and Food is widely expected to back calls for more local sourcing, more robust farm assurance schemes and more farmer co-operatives when it publishes its report next week. The findings of the commission, chaired by Sir Don Curry, will be announced by DEFRA secretary of state Margaret Beckett on Tuesday. However, hopes the climate is right for radical changes have been tempered by scepticism that commissioners have not had enough time to draw up meaningful solutions. When The Grocer approached key stakeholdersfor their views, the majority said they wanted to see commissioners propose practical ways in which farmers can become more market driven rather than simply cutting production driven subsidies and expecting them to cope. Food and Drink Federation president Peter Blackburn said he would like the report to address how to boost consumer confidence in the safety of the UK food supply. He called for "recognition of the importance of the chain to the national economy and the need to maintain and promote its competitiveness". Commissioners must consider the chain in its entirety, he said. BRC chief executive Bill Moyes said he wanted to see a more responsive food chain that could react quickly to changes in the marketplace. NFU policy director Martin Haworth said farmers' main concern was that this would be "just another report" with great ideas that never came to fruition. "We want to see concrete recommendations and a mechanism for actually implementing them." Bill Shannon head of corporate affairs for the Co-operative Group, said the society wanted to see a national initiative to promote co-operative solutions across the chain. "Farmers need to exert a greater control by co-operating in the formal sense and only planting what in effect has already been sold." There were also calls for greater support for initiatives to promote British produce. Safeway communications director Kevin Hawkins said: "Basically, we want a practical line of action that will enable farmers to get a better return from what they are doing. "But given two major constraints ­ the ridiculous timescale and the fact NGOs outnumber the people who actually work in the industry on the commission ­ I am not expecting a great deal." Federation of Wholesale Distributors director general Alan Toft said he was confident Sir Don had had ample time to make firm recommendations. "The commission has an opportunity to design a marketplace which is fairer with more diversity and increased consumer choice." {{NEWS }}