Issue link: https://htpgraphics.uberflip.com/i/464860
11 AGRICULTURE EDITION years. The large retailers have been accused of using their dominance in the UK food market as a lever to force suppliers to fall into line, resulting in suppliers' tight margins being squeezed even more. 'It's quite a big responsibility, trying to represent the direct suppliers and making sure they've got fair contracts with the retailers', Ms Tacon told BBC News. The code of practice was introduced after the Competition Commission had completed a major review of UK supermarkets. Among its recommendations was the creation of a supermarket ombudsman. Ms Tacon explained the new rules had banned a number of practices, such as supermarkets receiving a payment from a packaging firm in return for forcing their suppliers to use that packaging firm, even if it were more expensive. The adjudicator's role is to oversee compliance of the code by the ten largest supermarkets, which have more than 10,000 direct suppliers in a sector worth £170 billion. She described the GCA's role as a reactive one: 'I have to get complaints before I can get actually involved and do something.' In terms of powers to act, Ms Tacon explained that the first stage, if the GCA identified malpractice, was to make recommendations as to what supermarkets should do in future. If a supermarket failed to comply, it could then be named and shamed, and – ultimately – fined. Speaking at the GCA's first annual conference and on the publication of her first annual report, Ms Tacon said that the complexity of supermarkets' supply chains was one issue that was a cause for concern because it was adding to the cost of doing business. She said: 'Retailers are trying to cut costs out of the supply chain or increase their margins through various initiatives. In many cases, they have been challenging suppliers to do something and then the supplier's response has been to [renegotiate] and the result has been the addition of layer after layer of complexity, which ultimately leads to something that is less efficient than it could be.' She added that in her first 12 months of being in the job she had focused on developing a strong relationship with the ten largest retailers and suppliers, as well as on raising awareness of the code of conduct and the GCA. Suppliers welcomed the establishment of a GCA to ensure the supermarkets adhered to the code of practice. The National Farmers' Union (NFU) set up an online system that allows its members to anonymously submit complaints or concerns to the GCA via the NFU website. NFU horticulture and potatoes adviser Lee Abbey said: 'For the role of the adjudicator to be successful in stamping out bad practice, it is important that suppliers, both direct and indirect, provide information on which the GCA can act.' The NFU also encouraged farmers and growers to take part in a separate survey run by the GCA, aimed at establishing if relationships had improved since both the code of practice and adjudicator were introduced. REVIEW OF THE YEAR | The NFU set up an online system that allows its members to anonymously submit complaints or concerns to the GCA