FCC changes tack

THE FOOD CHAIN Centre has marked its first three years of work with a conference underlining the opportunities of collaboration and closer alignment with the supply chain.

Outgoing chairwoman Deidre Hutton said food production had a prosperous future ahead of it.

“We believe that food producers can take some very practical steps to improve their profitability.

“The FCC has tested and proven five things which could transform the fortunes of food producers.”

They include drawing up a clear strategy, benchmarking, product differentiation, achieving manufacturing excellence and collaborating on machinery.

The organisation, set up to improve sustainability in the food chain, is nearing the end of its first phase of pilot studies with farmers and processors.

It has produced 13 case studies of supply chain collaboration – sharing of data and co-operation between producers, processors and retailers – notably in the meat sector.

And it is set to produce 19 more, including two on businesses in the dairy sector in the next month.

But Joanne Denney-Finch, chief executive of the FCC’s parent group, the IGD, said the time was now right to gather the lessons from the past three years and begin to roll them out for the industry.

Very few farmers have had any contact with the FCC so far but Mrs Denney-Finch denied the centre had failed.

“The FCC was set up as a catalyst for change, and I believe it has started to change things,” she said.

“It is now moving into a different mode. We’ve learnt enough to package these learnings up and work with other organisations who can roll them out on the ground.”

The next couple of years would tell how successful the centre’s work had been, as its uptake became clear.