Peter Kendall challenges the Supermarkets
At this year's NFU Annual Conference, at the Birmingham Metropole Hotel on February 26 and 27, NFU President Peter Kendall will challenge the supermarkets to honour the promises they have been making about corporate responsibility and a fair price to the nation's farmers and growers. He will say:
"It is an encouraging sign that supermarkets are now falling over each other to paint themselves as the 'greenest' or 'most responsible' – but do they really mean it? Are businesses dedicated to competitive price cutting really committed to being fair to their suppliers? Or is it all about PR – about looking good because of customer expectation while still screwing down the price to the point where three dairy farmers are going out of business every day? The top-of-the-range, smaller volume retailers are treating their suppliers fairly but I have yet to see their practices becoming mainstream. I've been hearing the promises but so far I am seeing no delivery.
"For many farmers and growers today's prices are not sustainable, so if supermarkets want to be able to offer their customers the security and quality that comes with a UK supply base they need to do two things. Firstly they must understand the farming and growing businesses that comprise that supply base must be profitable and secondly they must be prepared to shoulder a much greater burden of responsibility and enter in to supply arrangements where efficient producers, and those who add value, can prosper. That's not just Corporate Social Responsibility; it is common sense."
Peter Kendall will also deal with the issue of energy. Admitting that agriculture has to put its own house in order to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, he will highlight the work the NFU is doing with other trade bodies to find ways to reduce emissions. He will also focus on the role farmers can play in contributing to energy security and climate change by producing bioenergy in all its different forms, but he will stress that it is a job that cannot be done in isolation:
"At the Oxford Farming Conference David Miliband said 'if 3,000 farms in Germany are using anaerobic digestion…we should be asking why aren't we?' Well, we in the NFU are asking that question - and I think we've got an answer. It's because in Germany there is a long term commitment to sustaining the demand for this type of renewable energy. So my response to the British government is will you support the Commission's proposal for a legally binding target for a 20 per cent renewable energy target for 2020, along with a one per cent target for biofuel? If you will, I can promise you farmers will be at the forefront of this valuable technology."
