The current turbulence facing the fresh produce industry is no different from the fluctuations felt by generations of farmers, and there are opportunities for the best businesses to thrive, a former MP has claimed.
Michael Jack – a former minister for horticulture and current National Fruit Show president - gave his upbeat assessment at the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers’ conference in London, where he insisted that there was no reason to feel overly downcast by Brexit uncertainty.
“The world of fresh produce has always been an area of turbulence and it’s how you anticipate and deal with it that counts,” he said. “When turbulence occurs, you can't dodge it, you just have to go through it.”
Jack warned the industry against becoming “introspective”, and instead said growers should be focused on being the best businesses possible. That included having a very clear – and concise – business plan that could be achieved by a set of objectives: “You control and deal with the things you can control. A strategy is a simple statement of where you want to be and by when. How you get there is your to-do list.”
Nevertheless, Jack outlined some of the challenges facing the sector, including ongoing retail price pressure and a reduction in consumer spending power. “We should never lose sight of the consumer,” he pointed out. “Consumers are facing a situation where living standards are under pressure. There will be a reduction in real spending power. Supermarkets will lay out their stores to attract consumers which means continued pressure on margins.”
On the plus side, Jack cited Defra research showing that 38 per cent of shoppers were prepared to pay more for British food, with 76 per cent saying it’s important to support British farmers. “If those statements are true, there’s something there for people [suppliers] to go at,” he concluded.
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