The fact that farm output had dropped by 18% in a decade and three dairy farms a day were selling up were “frightening statistics”, he told the NFU conference.

“But encouragingly consumers are showing a growing interest in food provenance issues,” said Mr Esom.

“Differentiation is the future of farming – that is, moving away from the production of pure commodities to the supply of differentiated produce, be it local, organic, seasonal, or food with high animal welfare and environmental standards.”

But for differentiation to work, there needed to be committed support from government, retailers and consumers.

Waitrose was involved in a number of initiatives to help British farmers differentiate their produce from commodities.

For example, it was supporting local and regional sourcing in its stores, and was the only retailer to use a 30-mile definition of “local”.

It was also the sponsor of the “small producer award” at the Royal Show.

“We firmly believe that such work enables branches to reflect the character and regionality of trading areas, as well as reconnecting shoppers with farmers,” said Mr Eson.

Chairman of Fenmarc Produce Mark Harrod said there was also a great need for long-term relationships and innovative thinking to improve the performance of food supply chains.

One of the drawbacks of the ongoing Competition Commission investigation in to retailers was to make the supermarkets more nervous and inclined to resort to tendering for food supplies.

Tendering put too much emphasis on price and was a blunt instrument that perpetuated short-term thinking, he said.

Source: fwi.co.uk