THE recent publication of the Competition Commission’s preliminary report into the supply of food in this country has proved just another “kick in the teeth” for the farmers.
The Commission largely endorsed the supermarkets lobbying that they were doing a good job for consumers.
Little was said in the report about farmers or the profitability of producing food, so I assume that they think that farmers will go on producing at prices largely dictated by supermarkets.
It does not give a young person entering the agriculture much scope for the future when you are trying to sell your produce to the monopoly of the main supermarkets.
It is easy to identify exceptions and some people have successfully transferred their attention to the farm shop concept.
That is OK as long as you do not live in Surrey where the recent outbreaks of foot-and-mouth have blighted the area and reduced the value of farmland in the area around Pirbright, but for the people who can afford to live in this somewhat posh area can probably afford grander foods than beef and lamb.
Perhaps it was misplaced but I always stuck to the policy of not dealing directly with any supermarket, but perhaps that is why I did not have a long innings as a farmer.
However, two instances have come to my attention recently.
On the first occasion I was invited to attend a meeting in Llanrwst. Because I always like an excuse to attend this beautiful Welsh town I went along not really knowing what to expect, but that is what I had done many years ago when we had been told that North Wales had been blanketed in radiation from a Russian power station.
Not so much histrionics this time: the meeting had been called as a result of a protest by farmers outside the Tesco store in Ruthin.
Eventually the speaker arrived as he was the boss of some abattoir in South Wales which operates for Tesco.
His first question was how many people in the room already supplied lambs to Tesco, and the answer was nobody.
The second question from the floor was how many lambs did Tesco buy in Ruthin market to which the guy from St Merrion replied that they did not buy lambs in livestock markets.
Unfortunately I had an appointment near home so I had to leave, but I did not want a listen to a presentation on selling my lambs to Tesco.
The second instance is a group of farmers who wished to set the marketing of milk, again to Tesco, who would offer a premium price of something like 25p/litre and increasing to 28p/litre a month later.
When it came to the paying it turned out to be that the price was 22.8p because the farmers had not read the small print.
We must all regret the conclusion of the Competition Commission report because where there was hope for better trading conditions with supermarkets, there is now little prospect of things changing in future.
