Recently in Ombdusman Category

As I made my way past St Paul's cathedral towards the English Food and Farming Partnership (EFFP) annual conference this afternoon I was filled with a strange sense of excitement.

And no, it wasn't brought on solely by the (so-called) Christmas spectacular on stage outside the cathedral as a choir gave a perfect rendition of songs from hit musical Hairspray.

It was the anticipation before a big fight.

Like Tyson vs Lewis, David vs Golliath or this weekend's mouth-watering (?) clash between the very average English bloke and the impossibly tall fella from Russia.

But this was better, it was NFU president Peter Kendall sharing a stage with Morrisons chief executive Marc Boland.

Farmer vs supermarket. No holds barred.

And with an announcement due on the ombudsman tomorrow (and from what we're hearing it probably won't be good news) I fully expected Kendall to take the fight to the supermarkets.

How disappointed I was.

To his credit, Peter gave a great speech, and pinpointed a wide range of areas where Government and farmers must do more.

But he failed, with a captive audience of supply chain executives and representatives from big retailers, to hammer home the issue.

Perhaps it was too obvious a move. A left hook, when a jab was all that was needed.

Or perhaps criticising Marc Bolland would be hugely unfair.

Because Marc was superb. Over 20 minutes he gave an impressive account of Morrisons recent turnaround and told us of all the things they are doing to help farmers.

From 'getting their hands dirty' on their own farms, to funding agricultural research and reviewing their own supply chain Morrisons has come on leaps and bounds.

All encompassed in a superb soundbyte from Mr Bolland:

"We want to get our hands dirty... we want to learn more about farming... and we want to feel what you feel."

So from the excitement, we move to a feeling of guilt on the walk back to the office - the choir now on the third act of Hairspray by the way.

Guilt that I went there presuming the worse.

Expecting Morrisons to be the bad guy and farmers to be the good guy.

Don't get me wrong, I passionately support calls for an ombudsman, and something must be done to curb retail power in the instance where it is undoubtedly abused.

But it is quite clear that for real progress the industry has to work with supermarkets in a partnership like that being fostered at Morrisons.

There's been a lot of noise about the supermarket ombudsman in recent weeks, with the subject hitting the headlines at all three party conferences and at the IGD conference in London last week.

But going over the recent coverage and looking at what Ministers are saying, I am starting to feel a little less optimistic that we might soon see an independent watchdog taking on the might of UK reailers.

The matter now rests with consumer affairs Minister Kevin Brennan, who took part in a Q&A with readers of The Sun last month where he failed to acknowledge the potential for an ombudsman.

Asked about the ever increasing discrepancy between farm gate and retail prices, Mr Brennan failed to give an answer which would convince us of his appetite to take on the big retailer.

Following a spiel about how the Government can't set prices (10/10 for stating the obvious!) he said 'The supermarket industry has been investigated several times recently, and has been found to be competitive'.

Perhaps he forgot the piece of paper on his desk from the Competition Commission (CC) recommending Ministers set up an ombudsman?

The very fact an independent competition authority has made the recommendation would suggest, contrary to his answer, that more does need to be done to regulate retailers.

Add to that the response I got from the press office at DBIS last week where they were only willing to give the same bland statement they did when the recommendation was first put before Ministers, and I get the sinking feeling the Government is looking for a way to wriggle out of this one.

Hopes were raised very briefly last week when international development Minister Michael Foster rejected the supermarkets' argument the ombudsman would lead to higher food prices.

But in the same sentence he said he didn't feel there was sufficient evidence to back up some of the CC's claims.

Early November is the deadline for the Government to respond to the recommendation, and all the signs point to a dodging of the bullet.

That in itself must raise some serious questions about how a Government could overrule an authority - funded no less through taxpayers money - which exists solely to make independent judgments and recommendations to Ministers.

But for all that, the decision has not yet been made and it is up to the industry and other players within the supply chain to make as much noise as possible in the coming weeks and really put pressure on Ministers to bite the bullet.

If they don't it will be held up as another example of a Government unwilling to take on the might of retail power and support farmers, suppliers and perhaps most importantly, consumers.