Farmers are being encouraged to manage risk better by saying 'no' more often to supermarket and distributor demands.
Retail expert Ged Futter, director at the Retail Mind, will share the recommendation at NFU Scotland's conference today (8 February).
In his much-anticipated presentation, he said hoped to inspire farmers to work with consumers to build a stronger supply chain.
Before the speech, Mr Futter said that the practice of farmers subsidising consumers’ appetite for cheap food 'cannot continue'.
“The future is exciting for Scottish farmers and growers, but it starts with one word, ‘no’," he explained.
“One industry expert explained how trust has been eroded between the farming sector and retailers.
"The analogy used was that ‘The current negotiation landscape is the equivalent of Premier League footballers playing against a pub team that complains when they lose 38-0 that the other team didn’t play fair.’"
Mr Futter said that retailers were more sophisticated at finding ways of getting better prices and most farmers, growers and packers 'have not kept up'.
“There is an answer, and it starts by saying ‘no.'," he said, "What will you say ‘no’ to? Are you getting your business ready for the future? Is it a future based on current opportunities or future ones?"
He said that after Brexit, the Ukrainian conflict, the pandemic and inflation running up to 20%, farming’s confidence and bank balances were 'at an all-time, unsustainable, low'.
“Recent events have acted as catalysts that have exposed pre-existing and fundamental weaknesses in the supply chain," Mr Futter explained.
"The level of risk is at all-time high. Risk versus reward came up consistently for farmers, concluding that with the risk versus reward ratio so far out of out of kilter, more farmers are asking is it worth producing food?"
He added: “Widely, retailers get a bad press but, as I was told on a number of occasions, the most sustainable and efficient distribution model is ‘retail to consumer’ and that the UK has probably the highest standards of production in the world.
"The further you move away from the UK, the lower those standards can become and the bigger the food safety risk, as well as the food security risk."
Mr Futter's presentation at NFU Scotland's annual conference will commence at 4pm today.
