The UK’s National Farmers’ Union yesterday [Monday] launched a campaign to draw attention to the poor deal farmers often get in return for their produce.
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According to the campaign, a basket of farmed produce including beef, eggs, milk, bread, tomatoes and apples typically costs £37 (US$57.7) in the shops but a farmer gets just £11, or less than a third of its retail value.
In some categories, farmers can expect to earn less than 25% of the final retail price. Cereal farmers, for instance, get just 8% of the price of a loaf of bread, while pig farmers typically receive 14% of the final retail price of bacon, reported the Guardian. Certain sectors are more profitable – for instance, an average 77% of the retail price of potatoes ends up back with the farmer, and 52% of strawberries, but just 25% of the sale price of apples, carrots and onions goes to the primary producer.
The NFU campaign is designed to highlight the plight of farmers, many of whom are not even able to recoup the cost of production. Some retailers are weighing into the debate, with Tesco director John Gildersleeve urging all milk processors to pay farmers at least £0.02 more per litre to sustain the UK dairy industry. Inevitably, such an initiative can only work if all, or the majority of, processors come on board, thus eradicating radical price differences between different retailers.
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