Tesco Supermarket Chain Makes a Commitment to British Potato Growers

Tesco announced that is issuing long-term contracts over three years to potato growers and packers worth GBP12m to help support British agriculture.

Through the Tesco Sustainable Farming Group - Potatoes (TSFG-Potatoes), growers will benefit from greater financial certainty, allowing them to invest in their businesses for the future.

TSFG-Potatoes will comprise a collection of producers and industry experts from across the country and will aim at building stronger relationships throughout the entire supply chain to ensure customers are offered the best range and varieties of potatoes at the right price.

The group will also take some of the pressure off British potato growers, who face challenges in the form of difficult growing conditions, declining consumption and an increasingly volatile market.

Matt Simister, Tesco’s Commercial Director for Fresh Food, stated: "Working collaboratively with our suppliers to ensure we provide the highest quality fresh produce for our customers is right at the heart of what we do. Whilst there isn’t a single simple solution the uncertainty faced by many potato growers, it’s important that we all play our part. These new contracts will help to bring more confidence back into the entire potato supply chain and build a truly sustainable British potato industry."

Under the new scheme, from September, producers will be given direct contracts with Tesco and a three-year rolling commitment that will guarantee, in advance, the volume of the crop that the supermarket will buy.

TSFG growers will also receive a price based on their production costs, which will take into account inflation, farming inputs such as the cost of fertilizer and additional expenses involved in growing high quality fresh produce for customers.

By developing a structure that guarantees a fair price for growers’ produce, Tesco hopes the scheme will pave the way for other retailers to work more collaboratively with growers, thereby helping to secure the future of the British potato industry.

NFU Horticulture and Potatoes Adviser, Lee Abbey, stated: "The NFU welcomes initiatives that provide a greater level of security, confidence and transparency to growers and we’re pleased that Tesco has followed through its commitment, first announced at the NFU conference in 2014, to develop a dedicated potato contract. The Tesco Sustainable Farming Group is a great example of how collaboration can work and it fits very much with the principles of the NFU’s Fruit and Veg Pledge. We hope growers are able to benefit from this new approach."

Potato grower Crawford Black from Fife, Scotland stated: "These new three-year rolling contracts will give my family business more confidence to look further ahead, make plans and invest for the future, safe in the knowledge that we have a long-term commitment from Tesco to continue to work with us."