Supply chain issues were at the top of the agenda today in a meeting between NFU president Sir Ben Gill and Asda.

Gill met Asda president Tony DeNunzio and other executives at the supermarket's Leeds headquarters to discuss the need for the food chain to share higher quality long-range weather forecasting to enable all parts of the chain to plan ahead for bouts of extreme weather conditions. This would help farmers and processors to modify production processes to take into account changes in demand and growing conditions due to the weather.

Gill said: “Extreme weather has an impact on the whole food chain from the production cycle through to changes in consumer demand at the point of sale.

“For example the recent heat wave has affected the growing cycle of lettuces while consumer demand for salad produce has gone up.

“If the food chain worked more closely together in planning production including sharing long-range weather forecasts, contingency planning and market information, we could all ensure we minimise the potential disruption to supply.”

DeNunzio said: “We recognise the need to address these longer term issues and hope that by working together in the areas of weather and climate change the industry will be better prepared in the future.”

Gill concluded: “There is no doubt that we are moving in a more market-focused direction but there is more work to do in creating strong partnerships between farmers and the rest of the food chain to ensure that consumers' needs are fulfilled as efficiently as possible.”