Planet Retail 9 May 2008

According to reports in the Chinese press, Metro Group has launched a pilot project supported by the Ministry of Commerce that helps to enhance food safety through a standardised and professional supply chain. The "Metro agricultural products sourcing base project" introduces a consulting company to guide local farmers on safe breeding and planting. Metro estimates about 100 leading agricultural companies will attend the training programme this year.

Farmers Guardian 30 April, 2008

FARMERS can celebrate victory today, as the Competition Commission (CC) published a raft of proposals in a major shake-up of Britain's supermarkets.

Chief amongst those proposals is a move to establish a supermarket ombudsman to ensure fair trade between retailers and their suppliers.

Telegraph.co.uk 1 May 2008  

Supermarket chiefs have hit out at the proposed imposition of a new "supermarket Tsar" to regulate relations between retailers and suppliers.
 
The Competition Commission has called for the establishment of an independent ombudsman to monitor and police the relationship between grocery chains and food manufacturers.

Sunday Telegraph 27 April 2008

The Competition Commission will this week spark anger among UK supermarket bosses by demanding that they foot much of the bill for the controversial industry ombudsman it is planning.

The watchdog is expected to announce the final findings of its 23-month investigation into supermarkets this week. One of its key demands will be the establishment of a 'supply tsar' to oversee retailers' relationships with their suppliers. The move is likely to cost the industry millions of pounds a year.

German farmers are up in arms over a decision by leading supermarket chains to cut milk prices, claiming they are being exploited. Dairy farmers are even threatening to suspend milk deliveries if the trend continues.

Planet Retail 25 Apr 2008

Speaking at Ahold's annual shareholders meeting this week, chief executive John Rishton discussed how the retailer is meeting its corporate social responsibility measures. "In 2007, we made CSR a key element of our global strategy. We believe CSR is essential to the longer-term success -- even survival -- of the business." According to Rishton, during last year the retailer organised its efforts into four main areas: healthy living, sustainable trade, climate action, and community engagement. In response to shareholder requests, Ahold will now publish a CSR report annually, at the same time as its annual report, according to Mr Rishton. The 2007 CSR report came out last month.

Planet Retail 11 Mar 2008

The global relief and development organization Mercy Corps, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Wal-Mart and the Guatemalan non-profit Fundación ÁGIL (Fundación Apoyo a la Generación de Ingresos Locales) have launched an alliance to improve the lives of small-scale farmers in Guatemala. The Alliance, a three-year effort, will build the capacity of small-scale farmers to help them move from traditional corn and beans production to demand-driven production to supply major retailers like Wal-Mart in Central America.

Chain-Wide Learning for Inclusive Agrifood Market Development:  A guide to multi-stakeholder processes for linking small-scale producers to modern markets

This new guide provides concepts and tools for working with actors along the entire value chain so that modern markets can be more inclusive of small-scale producers and entrepreneurs.

Planet Retail 21 Feb 2008

As it announced the outlines of its Indian plans yesterday, Wal-Mart said that its arrival will not hurt the small players in the industry. "Our goal is to work with India's existing supply chain infrastructure and improve efficiency to minimise wastage and maximise value for farmers and manufacturers as well as retailers," Wal-Mart Vice Chairman Michael Duke said in a statement. "We can help cut the waste, not the middlemen who can play a very important part in the entire supply chain."

The Times February 15, 2008. By Valerie Elliott

The UK farming industry senses victory after a five-year battle to persuade the Government and competition authorities that suppliers have been losing money because of tactics used by supermarkets to keep up their profits. But senior figures are cautious about a farm prices champion until they read the small print of the Competition Commission's provisional findings.