Mark Jones examines the Government’s Fair Dealings Obligations in an article for Food Manufacture
Tuesday 5th August 2025
Writing in Food Manufacture, Mark Jones, partner and food and drink expert at Gordons examines the impact of the fair dealings regulations in the supply chain.
The road towards the fair dealings regulations
The roots of the fair dealings regulations came from a focus from the government to protect farmers and the UK food and drink supply chain following Brexit and the removal of the Common Agricultural Policy.
In response, the government introduced the Agriculture Act 2020 (AA), which aimed to increase fairness in the food and drink supply chain.
In 2023, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee started to call for evidence to review different aspects of the food and drink supply chain, including market relations, food security and prices.
This call for evidence highlighted a number of issues in the food and drink supply chain around supplier fairness, leading to the initial Fair Dealings Obligations, starting with milk supply, followed shortly by regulations covering pig sales.
Enforced by the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator (ASCA), the government has promised further regulations on eggs and fresh produce.
The impact of Milk and Pig supply regulations
In his article, Mark examines the mechanisms of the fair dealings regulation for milk and pigs and his thoughts as to whether they are having a significant impact to support fairness in the supply chain.
Although both regulations do provide clearer contractual terms for producers and customers, Mark believes that these regulations do not achieve their stated aims and with unfair practices only being addressed if direct complaints are made to the ASCA.
Looking ahead at fresh produce
Based on the mechanisms of the milk and pig regulations, Mark explores what the potential is for reform in the supply of eggs and fresh produce, an area of activity which has already been proposed by the government.
Mark highlights the different market conditions between the egg and fresh produce markets and what considerations are needed for produce fair dealings to significantly benefit producers.
You can read Mark’s article in Food Manufacture here.
To learn more about the Fair Dealings Obligations (Pigs) Regulations, click here. For the Fair Dealings Obligations (Milk) Regulations 2024, click here.
Find out more about Gordons’ expertise in food and drink here.
