Federal-provincial committee expected to propose action by mid year.Ottawa—While federal and provincial officials are working on a solution to complaints from farm groups and food processors about fee increases being imposed on them by the large grocery store chains, no action is likely until this summer, Agriculture Canada says.The federal-provincial working group was established following the meeting of federal and provincial agriculture ministers in late November with the goal of proposing concentrate actions to the ministers at their annual meeting expected to be in Guelph this summer.“The working group will be meeting throughout the first half of 2021, and has already held its first meeting,” the department said. “This meeting focused on setting out the group's objectives and the need to engage industry stakeholders across the supply chain, as well as legal and business experts. The outreach with some of these key groups has already begun.”Last month, senior representatives of the food processing sector detailed the issue for the Commons agriculture committee. Michael Graydon, CEO of Food, Health and Consumer Products of Canada, said the five largest grocery retailers “control more than 80 per cent of Canada's grocery and drug stores, creating a significant power imbalance over manufacturers, farmers, suppliers, small retailers and consumers.”They have exploited their dominance “to impose unfair and unethical business practices that hurt everyone who grows, makes, buys or sells food and other essential products. For far too long, some large grocery retailers have used farmers and suppliers as a piggy bank, imposing arbitrary fees, raising costs and paying suppliers less than they are owed, all while charging shoppers more and more.”Daniel Vielfaure, Deputy CEO of the Bonduelle Group and CEO of Bonduelle Americas and co-chair of Food and Beverage Canada, supported calls for a grocer code of conduct to stop the grocery chains from arbitrarily imposing fee increases on their suppliers.“Other countries have faced this challenge and have addressed it by implementing a code of conduct,” he said. “These companies announce publicly what they do so the other guys know it. These letters are public. It's not against any laws to do this, and they're doing it. The concentration that they have allows them to do this. You even have American companies that are in Canada that do it in Canada and do not do it in the U.S., because in the U.S. they don't have that concentration.”Graydon said farmers and suppliers forced to pay retail the giants' bills must “struggle to pay their own and must cut back on innovating new products, investing in new facilities and creating new jobs. Made-in-Canada food becomes more expensive, and our food system weakens. Consumers have fewer, more expensive choices; workers lose job opportunities; and, Canada is already losing investment to more competitive countries.”Companies like Loblaw and Walmart “have doubled down on this bullying behaviour, forcing suppliers to fund retailers' expansion, all the while making record profits. New fees imposed by Walmart and Loblaw alone cost suppliers an estimated $1 billion per year, bringing the total cost of getting and keeping products on store shelves to an estimated $6 billion a year, with no tangible benefit to the suppliers or to consumers.”Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.