Retailers are using carbon labelling for market advantage, claims NFU

Peter Kendall, president of the National Farmers Union (NFU), has accused retailers of using different forms of carbon labelling on products as means of winning market advantage.

Kendall told an audience of manufacturers and retailers at the IGD think tanks annual convention in London earlier this week that a single agreed scheme of carbon or environmental labelling was absolutely critical.

It would be useful if we could all agree on a single robust way of doing it, he said. What we must avoid is different retailers trying to use environmental and carbon labelling as means of market advantage Some schemes we have seen are nothing more than plucking random numbers out of the sky.

Failure to agree a robust scheme of environmental labelling would end up confusing rather than helping consumers, he warned. Lets take our time on carbon labelling and come up with a system that really works for everyone.

Kendall also said retailers had become whingers given the level of objections they were raising in the corridors of power against the establishment of an ombudsman for the grocery sector to rule on disputes between supermarkets and their suppliers.

It wont be long before retailers take my mantle for moaning more than farmers, he said. So I think it is a time for change. I think we can reverse this fall down in relationships and make sure we move on to a better footing.

Kendall added: I honestly believe this is an enormous opportunity that has been missed. Retailers have failed to seize the moment and secure a transparent supply chain. He argued that it wasnt just about protecting suppliers. I am getting slightly tired of being told this is about suppliers and not about consumers, he added.

Referring to the perfect storm of global challenges facing the world of climate change, resource depletion, population growth and increasing worldwide demand for food he added: We simply cannot afford to have a supply chain that does not have the confidence to invest in research and development and innovation that will meet and beat those challenges we face.