I think the reality is we are divorced from the process of producing our own fruit and veg and therefore often there is an expectation that it should be really cheap, this article nicked from the Guardian Farming basically highlights this and shows the damage that these supermarket price wars have on the grower.
12 October 2011
THE NFU is warning that it will ‘name and shame’ retailers its suspects of abusing their power over fruit and vegetable suppliers.
Horticulture board chair Sarah Pettitt told the council the board was carrying out an inquiry into how the sector operates in light of the huge uncertainty faced by growers as supermarkets enter into consumer price wars.
“Recently we have had growers reporting that their prices are being squeezed to help their retail customer offer better value to consumers,” she said.
Ms Pettitt said UK growers were currently facing a ‘roulette wheel of production’ and were being forced to invest in putting crops in the ground with little guarantee they would be able to sell the produce and how much they were going to get for it.
She said recent price increase had come nowhere near to covering soaring production costs. It was little wonder horticulture came out second from bottom in the NFU’s member confidence survey, she added.
With other crops looking increasingly attractive, many horticulture and potato growers feel the rewards are no longer worth the risks and are set to leave the sector, she warned.
“Against this backdrop, the horticulture and potato board has agreed to carry out an assessment into supply chain operations. It will include price transmission, margin, contract terms and retailer and customer behaviour.
“These issues have gone unchallenged in the horticulture sector for too long and we are simply not prepared to tolerate it as a commercial reality any longer,” she said.
The aim is to complete the review within six months and Ms Pettitt urged growers who feel they are ‘swamped and drowning’ to contact the board.
NFU president Mr Kendall the NFU was getting ‘more and more information coming through’ about the pressure being put on processors and suppliers by supermarkets.
“We will take that information and we will name and shame and use all the power we have in the press where retailers are abusing their position and putting downward pressure on suppliers,” he said.
