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Sainsbury's will pay UK farmers millions to improve supply27 Oct 2010Source The Telegraph UK supermarket group Sainsbury’swill invest £40m over the next three years in its farming "development groups", which it set up four years ago to work with farmers covering different product areas such as beef, lamb, milk and grain. Part of the money will be paid directly to the farmers as bonuses for adopting "good agricultural practice". The money will also be invested in improving infrastructure and efficiency, offering benefits - such as vets bill payments and training courses - and providing IT resources to the farmers. The £40m investment comes on top of the £21m that the retailer has already invested in the farming development groups since their formation. The supermarket's attempts to forge closer links with its farming suppliers come at a time of rising commodity prices and increasing consumer interest in the provenance of their food. Justin King, Sainsbury's chief executive, said that supermarkets are too often a "convenient bogeyman" for criticism. He said a possible reason behind the misconceptions surrounding supermarkets is that farmers generally supply the chains through a middleman – or a "processor" – meaning that there is not as much direct contact as there should be. Mr King said the point of the recently held conference between Sainsbury’s and 1000 farmers was to encourage greater collaboration between the supermarket and its suppliers. Read more here |
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