Speech by John Scott MSP,
Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs & the Environment
Members debate on supermarkets, The Scottish Parliament, 14th May 2008
“Supermarkets have been hugely successful in respect of shareholder value and have made available to the Scottish public an unsurpassed range of good quality and well-presented food products, of which previous generations could only have dreamed. Supermarkets are here to stay and, to be fair, if we did not have them we would probably be trying to invent them. However, their success has come at a cost, particularly to town centres, many of which have as a result lost their bustling local food shops and their character.
“A cost has also been borne by food producers. Their margins have been squeezed so much that many livestock farmers have moved out of farming and, sadly, many more are considering doing so. For that reason, our party has long supported the introduction of an ombudsman, which cannot happen soon enough.
“As I said, we live in changing times. It is regrettable that food security, high oil prices, global warming and a growing world population all, for different reasons, contribute to driving up the price of food. Higher fuel costs and peak oil suggest that more food will need to be produced and consumed locally. It may become socially unacceptable to fly out-of-season vegetables half way round the world as a result of the need to conserve oil supplies for future generations and because of peak oil.
“Farmers markets have taken the lead by reintroducing seasonality into shopping patterns. In-season produce may be all that consumers can afford in the future if oil rises further in price, so I believe that a renewed opportunity exists for farmers markets, for farm shops and for all local food retailers to further develop their businesses.
“In Scotland, that means developing better food and drink supply chains. It also means more co-operation between individual food producers and it means taking the specialist advice of organisations such as the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society Ltd on how best to achieve those aims by, for example, creating distribution hubs and funding new routes to market. That will also give local food, which is by definition often less processed and has less salt and fewer fats added, the opportunity to be used in supporting the healthy eating agenda. The encouragement of more public procurement of locally produced fresh food will benefit the environment, people's health and the primary producers of food. "Buy local, eat local" should be the order of the day.
“The new ombudsman, when it is in place, must ensure fairer returns from the marketplace for fruit producers. Scottish Conservatives look forward to the creation of a new and extended grocery supply code of practice, as well as to the end of abuses of power, such as the demand for lump-sum payments and enforced promotional costs.”