Kitchen Garden Forum

Did anybody watch this programme on BBC1 this evening? It makes my blood boil to see how Somerfields screwed the family business growing lettuce, and how another family firm supplying milk had to sell off their dairy herd. The supermarkets are making millions of pounds of profit. If only some entrepreneurial group could set up a new national "not for profit" retail organisation to cater for those who want(or need) to shop in a supermarket but ensure that producers get a fair deal for their products. We try and avoid supermarkets like the plague and support our local village and farm shops wherever possible but I hope that a lot of people who do use supermarkets watched that programme and felt guilty. (Because I know the senior executives of the supermarkets won't).

I watched and felt guilty, especially about the milk,not so much the lettuce as we grow ours all through the summer and autumn, but we have no alternative only to buy from supermarkets living in the city and having no transport, it was sad to see the farmer having to sell his lovely cows.
How did the lettuce grower manage to grow such a perfect crop without a slug mark on them, or was that chap checking for slugs?

Bren

i always try to shop at the local coop or the farm on the moors
missed the programme tho

I saw the programme and was shocked by the statistic that 3 dairy farmers are going out of business each week in the uk -thats awful. all of those families at their wits end because the supermarkets drive the prices down so low.
I feel quite depressed, having watched orangutan diaries, before this program, looking at the imminent extiction of these beautiful creatures because of the deforestation to allow for palm oil plantations.
This palm oil goes into 1 in 10 products we buy in supermarkets e.g. shampoo, biscuits etc.
What a nightmare we have created when trying to choose the products we buy and the places we buy them.

Seedling

Its not just the food retailers it is the same with most of the large retailers who have tremendous buying power and can dictate the prices they want to pay at the expense of the manufacturers.

The key word is 'profit' and lots of it for the shareholders

This is why much of our manufacturing is going abroad to the far east to exploit the low pay rates

Ask yourselves... how do the large multiple retailers afford to keep opening stores at the rates that they do?

Who is ultimately to blame?
The simple answer is the consumer who demands ever cheaper goods, including food and drink. How many of us have consciously avoided buying the "best bargain"? Only saints and liars can claim "never".

Alan

This series was on BBC4 first (i think) and I watched the whole lot. It is disgusting the way that that the retailers treat the growers and the consumers.

I only buy milk from my local milkman cos it keeps him in work, the bottles are recycled, the organic milk is cheaper than the supermarket, and it's convenient for me to have the milk delivered.

I'm gradually moving over to getting stuff from local producers. I'm not far from Burscough and a few producers have got together and offer a delivery service and fruit and veg boxes. I only buy my meat from my local butcher but that might change.

I'm definitely getting more savvy when it comes to choosing where to get our food.

There used to be four dairy farms in the village and now there is only one and he is due to retire in two years time and his son will ceasing the dairy unit.
The way they have all been treated is abominal.
I used to get fresh Jersey Milk and home made butter but it was a smallholding with only four milkers but it was DEFRA that made things so difficult they decided to emigrate to France and they actually now have an identical set-up only a little larger and the French Government has assisted them doing many improvements. DEFRA made it so difficult here with all the regulations that are the same for four cows as for four hundred it just wasn't worth the hassle.
The EU is supposed to be a level playing field but our farmers are always at a disadvantage because of DEFRA.
JB.

I too try to buy local.All of my eggs and 90% of my veg comes from my two allotments.All of of my beef comes from a farm 8 miles away in the form of a pack of various cuts and the rest of my meat comes from my local market here in Doncaster but an early morning trip off nights to the market revealed the sources of some of the produce and it wasnt from the British Isles. If i could have milk delivered without fear of it being nicked from the doorstep i would.The statistic of £1 in £8 spent in this country goes through Tescos tills is frightening. A local producer near me has narrowly averted bankruptcy because he was dropped without notice by one of the big supermarkets and now has vowed never to deal with them again.The only good thing to come of this situation is that eventually all of the produce produced in GB will be snapped up locally by locals forcing the big boys to source completely overseas and then start to struggle when the overseas producers put up there prices, heres wishing eh!!!

Hi Johnboy,

Isn't it DEATHRA?

See that Tesco are now going to pay 22p per litre and not increase the price to consumers. About time.

I'm trying not to buy anything from supermarkets if at all possible. My milk is delivered daily, my meat is delivered weekly from a local butcher and I buy everything I can from local stores (No I don't live in Royston Vasey). I grow as much veg as I can and have kept salad crops going in the greenhouse right through the winter. I make my own bread and eggs are from my chicken. I do have to hit Sainsbury's every few weeks for things I can't get elsewhere but have managed to get out each time spending less than £20. Having done this since January I am around £600 better off and also feel much better about myself.