NEW WATCHDOG TO HELP LOCAL FARMERS & PRODUCERS Mid-Scotland & Fife Conservative Murdo Fraser MSP has welcomed the news in today’s Queen Speech that the UK Government will establish a Groceries “Adjudicator”, whose job will be to ensure supermarkets treat their suppliers fairly and lawfully, and believes this will benefit Fife and Perthshire farmers and producers. This will prevent supermarkets from passing on excessive risk to suppliers, meaning that consumers will benefit from increased choice. The Government acted after large supermarkets failed to introduce their own adjudicator. This prompted the introduction of the Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill to bring an end to a number of practices that concerned the Competition Commission, including suppliers being charged for products lost or stolen by supermarkets. Concerns have also been raised that supermarkets have threatened to stop selling a supplier’s products for failing to agree last minute changes to the terms of a supply agreement. The new food watchdog will uphold the Groceries Code, as set out by the Competition Commission, and could be in place as early as the middle of next year. For a number of years Murdo Fraser MSP has been calling for an Adjudicator/Ombudsman to be set up to protect the interests of farmers and producers and to ensure that Scottish farmers get a fair price for their produce. Murdo Fraser MSP said: “Farmers in Fife and Perthshire will welcome the news by the Conservative-led UK Government, which will see an Adjudicator standing up for them. It will finally bring a level of protection to those smaller scale producers who enter a direct contract to supply a supermarket that has been lacking for too long. “We badly need to inject some balance into the equation for our farmers in Fife, Perthshire and across Scotland. No longer will the supermarkets be able to alter contracts to the detriment of the producer without being challenged, and I have no doubt that the whole agricultural sector will welcome this change.”