McGrigor backs calls for action on Supermarket Code of Practice

Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie McGrigor has backed calls to strengthen the Supermarket Code of Practice.

Commenting after the Scottish Parliament’s Environment and Rural Development Committee published its report into the Food Supply Chain, the Conservative MSP said it was time to give the Code real teeth.

Jamie McGrigor said “During the course of this inquiry the Committee heard of the difficulties many sectors face, particularly in those of dairy, red meat and vegetable production, due to a distorted distribution of power in the food supply chain.

“These sectors are left struggling to meet their costs and, as a result, in the dairy sector alone 700 family farms (a quarter of Scotland’s total) have gone out of production in the last five years, including many in the Highlands and Islands.

“So what has been done to arrest the decline? What actions has the Scottish Executive undertaken to give hope to yet another struggling Scottish industry? Nothing. The Liberal Democrat Minister has so far just sat back and allowed this erosion of the rural economy to continue.

“Now the Environment and Rural Development Committee has set out a clear number of areas in which the Executive must act. Firstly, there needs to be increased emphasis and development of local food economies with increased marketing of the Scottish brand. Next the Executive needs to ease the high level of regulation currently imposed on Scottish farmers to ensure that they are not at an economic disadvantage.

“In addition, the Executive must use its power to influence supermarkets’ contract practices to introduce greater transparency. Currently the relationship is so confused that farmers and producers were reluctant to even comment on the record to the Committee for fear of losing business.

“Finally, the time has come to strengthen the existing Supermarket Code of Practice to give it real teeth, to ensure that there is an equitable distribution of resources throughout the chain providing a fair level of profit for everyone including, most importantly, the primary producer.”

“If we truly value Scotland’s produce, and want the Highlands and Islands to continue to produce some of the finest foods that can be found anywhere in the World, then the Executive must act now. They must implement the Committee’s recommendations before it’s too late”.