SUMMER has arrived with a vengeance at last, but there is still concern amongst farmers about low livestock prices.
At a time when anything which you might wish to buy goes up in price, the price of goods leaving the farm does not reflect this overall trend.
It is so easy to blame the supermarkets for all our countryside woes, but when I happened to visit the Chester branch of Sainsburys last week I was surprised and disgusted to find that all its lamb, except for one packet, had been imported from New Zealand.
With so much talk about food miles and reducing carbon dioxide emissions, I was surprised that such a major supermarket had spurned home-grown spring lamb in favour of a product which had been imported from the other side of the world.
It’s no wonder that Sainsburys has been able to announce much larger profits recently.
But if their idea is to rip off the British farmer by importing cheap food from abroad, I am sure that they will not miss my custom in future.
Welsh lamb prices have crashed as supermarkets switch to New Zealand imports
Some years ago the government would have us believe that farmers in this country were producing food surpluses. My view of farming around here would certainly suggest that is no longer the case.
However, I do believe that we now have a surplus of supermarkets, backed by a government which is turning a blind eye to aggressive business practices which are driving yet more farmers in this country to the wall.
In the meantime I can always shop elsewhere from Sainsburys who make enormous profits from selling shoddy food imports.
