The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries representatives will discuss sourcing and pricing practices.

The aim is to help relieve the pressure on farmers whose livlihoods have been hit by the beef on the bone ban and the downturn in global economic markets.

News of the meeting emerged during a Commons debate on the current crisis in agriculture.

Food Safety Minister Jeff Rooker said an announcement would be made as quickly as possible on an aid package for farmers.

Jeff Rooker: No attempts to neuter food safety commitment

Mr Rooker said they were going through "an extremely difficult period", with prospects not looking good for the immediate future.

The biggest market for lambskins had been Russia, which had now disappeared.

"We cannot order people to buy British," said Mr Rooker, answering calls for British food to be promoted.

The government encouraged farmers to work together as producers and not be isolated and picked off by those who control the food markets.

He said: "Farmers have been the victims of a pincer movement by supermarkets."

He said representatives from the ministry would be meeting with retailers to discuss sourcing and pricing practices.

Conservative Agriculture Spokesman Tim Yeo said the government was making matters worse for farmers.

He called for the lifting the ban on beef on the bone, saying it would not cost consumers or farmers a penny to be removed.

If the government did not lift it, there was a risk the European Union would make it permanent, he said.

There was more risk in someone being killed by lightening than by eating beef on the bone, Mr Yeo told MPs.

Earlier, Mr Rooker had told MPs British beef consumption in the UK had gone up in the last year.

Confidence was returning but the government would not take an early decision, he said.

The motion urging further steps to secure the future of British farming was rejected by 340 votes to 45.

An amendment welcoming "the government's strong commitment to the UK farming industry and to the wider rural economy" was approved without a vote.

During the debate, Mr Rooker denied that the government was backtracking on its commitment to a food standards agency.

He said he could not pre-empt the contents of the Queen's Speech but maintained that food safety remained a priority.

"There has been no back door or front door attempts in my ministry to neuter the food standards agency."

Charles Kennedy: Too much polarity between rural and urban life

Liberal Democrat Agriculture Spokesman Charles Kennedy said it would be perverse if one of the most popular commitments in the Labour manifesto did not appear at the top of the government's priorities.

He repeated calls for the government to establish a food safety agency, saying: "Farmers are as anxious as anyone that government proceeds with all due haste as they know the signal it sends to consumers is an important one."

His speech described the crisis suffered by agriculture and the food industry, which employs around one million people.

In Wales, the hill farmers are suffering than anywhere else in the UK but all sectors were suffering through bad harvests, falling prices and the knock-on effects of BSE.

He described how there was now too much polarity between urban and rural Britain.

There was not the same understanding of rural economies and, particularly, agriculture.

Mr Kennedy called for the government to enter into dialogue with supermarket chains to promote British foods.