THE Competition Commission’s investigation into the grocery market is to be the focus for debate at next month’s Farming Scotland Conference.
Peter Barron, a senior business adviser at the commission, will talk about the investigation that ultimately led to a recommendation to appoint an ombudsman to police the relationships between suppliers and the main retailers.
The UK Government has yet to make a decision on whether the ombudsman role will be created.
Supermarkets claim the post will force up prices to consumers and be an unnecessary cost on them, but many suppliers, including the agricultural industry, back the appointment because they allege continuing bullying in the marketplace by the big retailers.
Other speakers at the conference, on February 4 in the Carnoustie Hotel, Carnoustie, include Russell Armstrong, a manager with Britain’s biggest farmer, Co-operative Farms.
He will be talking about green farming techniques and the significant energy and production savings that can be made.
Also taking to the platform will be Derek Stewart, the head of the plant-product and food-quality programme at the Scottish Crop Research Institute and Jim McCarthy, a director of largescale farming business Agro Terra, which has operations in Ireland, Australia, America and Argentina.
The conference is organised by chartered accountant EQ, the Royal Bank of Scotland, chartered surveyor Bell Ingram and Thorntons Solicitors.
For more details, contact Mary Campbell at EQ on 01307 474274.