Farmers for Action say large supermarkets causing food price hikes putting farmers out of business

Farmers for Action have released a statement regarding supermarkets causing food price hikes putting farmers out of business.

Within the last five years large supermarkets across the UK have caused huge price rises in for example potatoes and eggs produced in the UK.

The sad truth about this according to Sean McAuley, FFA Steering Committee, is for decades persistent downward pressures on farm gate prices from the large supermarkets pushed potato farmers approximately 4/5 years ago to the point where they could no longer afford to fund their potato growing and the electricity to run their cold stores.

He said "The result accumulated in a shortage of potatoes with for example McCain’s having to import potatoes from Europe causing a huge price hike, taking the price of potatoes on UK farms away up and over the true cost of production plus a margin inflation linked.

"Make no mistake about it the potato farmers who were still in business needed all the extra money that came out of a couple of years of high prices to pay their debts. As always when this happens the retail price at the supermarket, the chip shop, the restaurant etc goes up and never comes down – where as on the farm the price of potatoes has come well down again to the point of concern. Along this journey many farmers have gone out of business, never to return, further reducing the UK’s self-sufficiency in food supply currently standing at a maximum of 60% and 400 less UK family farms in 2024 across the board should surely send the alarm bells ringing in Westminster and Stormont.

"Exactly the same story can be told about eggs, as was well documented at the time a short few years back – the shortage resulted in eggs being imported from Poland and in came salmonella. Today, the UK is about to bend to a USA trade deal which could well allow chlorinated chicken and hormone-fed beef to enter the UK food chain, while this will not happen in an EU member state country. The downside of this is yet again pressure will be put on the UK chicken and beef farmers by the large supermarkets to compete. We have the Labour Government set to push billions into national security almost on a war footing and absolutely no mention of food security which is idiotic – you cannot have national security without food security, something which America has yet again endorsed in recent days. 

"Farmers For Action / NI Farm Groups hereby as a matter of national security call for the Stormont Agriculture Committee to take forward the Northern Ireland Farm Welfare Bill to be enacted and pave the way for a UK-wide Farm Welfare Bill, if the UK is to have any chance of controlling food prices in a fair to all manner and thereby retain UK family farms which will flourish when they are being consistently and properly paid for their produce. Time to end boom and more often bust down on the farm, while feathering the nest of large supermarkets shareholders and time for the large supermarkets to treat consumers and farmers fairly."