Getting into bed with the bully

It's all well and good to despise the insatiable greed of Tesco, particularly when 'every little helps' amounts to yearly profits of more than £2 billion, writes Rural Affairs Editor Nathan Rous.

But just as you adore the school bully who ends years of head-flushing torment to take you under his wing there comes a time when enemies must become allies and old prejudices should be buried.

That is not to say that Tesco hasn't been the architect of this country's agricultural downfall. For if it is ever going to accept any plaudits it must first learn to accept the blame, and years of chasing bigger and better margins has put them at the head of the culprit queue.

Many food producers have been trampled underfoot by the company's strong-arm tactics while many more are staring into the abyss as they try to keep the wolf from the door. No easy task if you keep pigs.

But as much as consumers retain the right to complain, and as a nation we rule when it comes to grumbling and groaning, it's not to say Tesco doesn't get it right every once in a while. And because it does everything on such a giant scale, when it does something right it can have an enormous positive impact.

Take Tesco's local food campaign; hardly a revolution when you consider both the public and political appetite for regionally sourced goodies, but in pulling together a UK-wide framework with specific responsibility for getting local produce on to the shelves, Tesco has done it bigger and better than anyone else.

Naturally there will be those that bow out after a less-than-satisfactory experience: pig farmer Rob Kennerley from Ellesmere stopped supplying Tesco eight months ago and is now far happier with a Waitrose contract. But on the whole you can see what Tesco is trying to achieve.

It doesn't make £2 billion a year clear profit from making bad decisions and, even if it is riding on the back of a giant PR bandwagon, who really cares if it gets our farms doing what they do best.

You see, Tesco has an unrivalled ability to spot an opportunity and make the most of it. Indeed, it has applied the same logic in screwing farmers on price as it has in increasing sales of local produce from £400 million a year to £1 billion. Is there any farmer out there who could seriously knock that commitment when their business will reap the benefit?

Last April Tesco knew that the world shortage of milk would mean a dizzying increase in prices of liquid milk at home. That's why they got in quick to announce a Local Choice milk campaign; supporting dairy farmers by paying a premium for their milk and passing that cost on to the consumer with all the gloss of a Saatchi and Saatchi ad campaign.

The Women's Institute was given much of the credit for out-muscling Tesco but, in truth, Sir Terry Leahy and his band of henchmen were way ahead.

So despite all the stories of a global food shortage, Tesco's campaign to herald each region's bounty could help return this country to the days of self-sufficiency: the 'dig for victory' mentality in which imported food has no place at our table.

You therefore have to worry about the logic behind the Government's agreement to pay farmers to grow wild flowers and keep nice verges when, in all honesty, we need as much land for food as possible.

Britons need British produce and British farmers need the support to grow it. Time to embrace the bully.