Farmers too scared to speak out against retailers

The supermarket code of conduct will not work unless farmers come forward to raise concerns about illegal practices, the groceries code adjudicator has warned.

Christine Tacon said suppliers were still frightened to speak out against unfair practices, despite the anonymity offered.

“My number one issue is trying to get people to tell me what’s going on, because they are scared,” she said at an NFU meeting in Cornwall on 25 November.

So far, the most common complaint had been backdated deductions from payments, said Ms Tacon. But building a picture of retailers’ actions was essential if she was to carry out her job effectively.

“You could be one of 10 people making a complaint; the same retailers’ names come up again and again and I need that wealth of evidence.” Having a great number of suppliers coming forward also made it easier to preserve anonymity, she added.

Passing information about the code to overseas suppliers was similarly important. “The code applies to any direct supplier anywhere in the world, so I need to make sure we get that message out there.

“This would prevent retailers from sourcing foreign produce in an attempt to circumvent the rules, as well as protecting overseas suppliers” she said.

Having only been officially in place since late June, Ms Tacon had opted to take a moderate approach to tackling suppliers’ complaints, as public investigations could undermine consumers’ confidence in the supply chain, she said.

“All retailers have a code compliance officer, and I want to give them time to put it right – so far they have resolved complaints within a few days. But if they breach the code again, I’ll for go the jugular.”

Retailers had to bear the costs of the adjudicator’s office and of any investigations, although so far the maximum limit for fines had not been set.

“My recommendation is that it should be 1% of UK turnover; for Tesco that would be £500m,” said Ms Tacon. “At the end of the day, the code is law and retailers have got to comply with it.

“The cheapest way for them to do that is to stop breaches from happening in the first place.”

More on this topic