Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) tackle the use of late payments by supermarkets and (b) increase transparency in the food supply chain.

Farmers should always receive a fair price for their products and the Government is committed to tackling unfairness in the supply chain wherever it exists.

Using the 'Fair Dealings' powers in the Agriculture Act 2020 we can introduce regulations, applying to businesses who purchase agricultural products from farmers, which increase transparency and protect farmers from unfair practices.

These regulations could mandate that contracts include certain information such as payment terms, pricing information and set parameters around these, increasing transparency for producers.

A sector-by-sector approach has been adopted, with the first use of these powers leading to Dairy Regulations, which came into force for new contracts in 2024. We will lay regulations in spring 2025 to improve fairness in the pig sector and are making progress on eggs and on fresh produce.

Where farmers sell directly to retailers, their agreements will be covered within the scope of the sectoral regulations that we are introducing through powers in the Agriculture Act 2020.