RABDF has welcomed government’s announcement to review the Groceries Code Adjudicator’s remit and extend it to cover indirect suppliers, including dairy farmers themselves and thereby help end unfair trading practices.
“The GCA has made significant in-roads in to improving relationships between suppliers and retailers in the last three years,” says RABDF’s policy director, Tim Brigstocke. “However the high hopes we had when she was appointed have been dashed simply because she has not had any real powers to date that can impact on hard pressed dairy farmers who are essentially selling direct to intermediaries who in turn trade with retailers.
“BREXIT offers a new opportunity to establish a sustainable dairy supply chain for the future. An extension to the GCA’s remit could simultaneously help to put an end to unfair trading practices and provide farmers with a buffer from incessant retail price pressure working its way down the chain."