It's been said before, but it's worth repeating. Food, in media parlance, will always be the stuff sexy headlines are made of. Twenty first century grocery stores are even sexier. And that's fair enough when facts hold sway over fiction. But not so this week, when tabloids, broadsheets and broadcasters with over imaginative minds did their best to stir up a conflict between farmers and food retailers over the DTI's plan to enforce a statutory trading code of practice. Never mind that the two groups had been talking at the same table for months. They're at each other's throats, so let's go for a dramatic headline. Oh yeah? In truth, and this has been endorsed by leading lights from both ends of the supply chain, they've never been closer. And that's progress. For, 15 years ago, there would have been as much chance of successfully bringing them together for a voluntary code as there is today of turning the Millennium Dome into a popular attraction. In those days bully boys still inhabited certain buying departments and despite protestations to the contrary from their bosses, it was hard for some small food producers to earn a fair crust from the high street. And while we're not claiming that all incidences of supplier bullying have disappeared, the recent industry talks are a healthy step in the right direction. But it's hard enough negotiating with a government department which knows little or nothing about grocery without a group of ill-informed media warmongers stirring up trouble for the sake of an easy headline. It would have been ideal if a voluntary code could have been introduced. But given Byers and his New Labour chums, with votes in mind, will want to come up with something binding to boast about during next year's election campaign, the agenda is set. Byers must be urged to apply the code across the whole trade. So the pragmatic folk at the NFU, plus representatives of the manufacturing fraternity, should make that point before the negotiations proceed too much further. Clive Beddall, Editor {{OPINION }}