The multiple supermarkets are effectively being subsidised by the pigmeat industry. It can’t go on, says Richard Longthorp
The government's chief scientific adviser Professor Sir John Beddington has delivered a stark warning: take urgent action now or the next generation will face a global food crisis.
It comes in the most comprehensive-ever report into food security, the Foresight Report on Food and Farming Futures, and makes clear that unless action is taken now, there will not be enough food for the world's growing population. Beddington calls on farmers, politicians, economists and scientists to think how to make food production more efficient.
Sadly, the report does not include the need for retailers to play a role and to be part of the solution as opposed to the problem. What an oversight when it is Britain's supermarkets that seem to be doing everything possible to destroy the UK pig industry. Pig producers have been lobbying supermarkets to pay a fair price for pigs.
The average cost of production for pig farmers jumped by 16% in the autumn of last year; the price paid by supermarkets and processors fell by 4%. Retail prices for pork and pork products have increased 10%. Someone, somewhere is making a profit. Or profiteering.
It certainly isn't producers who are making a profit. Today, farmers are losing more than £21 on each pig they sell. Having been hit by a similar crisis in 2007, the industry again teeters on the brink of collapse. In a survey four weeks ago, 70% of farmers said they would quit production if returns did not improve.
Little wonder farmers are being more vocal about their plight and the message is getting through. Consumer research just before Christmas showed public opinion even more solidly behind farmers than in 2007, with more shoppers saying they are prepared to pay more for higher-welfare products, and that British standards of welfare compared with the rest of Europe are something to be proud of. Consumers, faced with rising prices, would be less than enamoured of retailer motives if they felt the higher prices they are paying for pork were not being passed back to farmers.
Our representative bodies have made it clear to all the major supermarket groups that the solution to the current crisis lies totally in their control. The dedicated supply chain arrangements we have proposed built on total transparency would avoid the catastrophic situation producers face today. They would also ensure that an efficient industry, which receives no government aid and has a relatively benign impact on the environment, can continue to be part of the solution to avoiding a global food crisis. Retailers, processors and their shareholders are effectively being subsidised from the pig industry's balance sheet. This is not only morally bankrupt, it is quite simply unsustainable.
Examples of effective supply chains do exist where risk and reward are shared equitably Waitrose, for example, is continuing to invest from farm gate to retail shelf even during the current crisis. It is investing in further efficiencies, environmental benefits, animal welfare, product quality and the people and skills needed to fuel the necessary growth over the next 20 years.
Dedicated supply chains are not a distant dream. They are a reality. They work. They are the solution. I invite other retailers to become part of the solution, too.
Richard Longthorp is a pig producer and arable farmer in East Yorkshire. He was awarded an OBE this year
The government's chief scientific adviser Professor Sir John Beddington has delivered a stark warning: take urgent action now or the next generation will face a global food crisis.
It comes in the most comprehensive-ever report into food security, the Foresight Report on Food and Farming Futures, and makes clear that unless action is taken now, there will not be enough food for the world's growing population. Beddington calls on farmers, politicians, economists and scientists to think how to make food production more efficient.
Sadly, the report does not include the need for retailers to play a role and to be part of the solution as opposed to the problem. What an oversight when it is Britain's supermarkets that seem to be doing everything possible to destroy the UK pig industry. Pig producers have been lobbying supermarkets to pay a fair price for pigs.
The average cost of production for pig farmers jumped by 16% in the autumn of last year; the price paid by supermarkets and processors fell by 4%. Retail prices for pork and pork products have increased 10%. Someone, somewhere is making a profit. Or profiteering.
It certainly isn't producers who are making a profit. Today, farmers are losing more than £21 on each pig they sell. Having been hit by a similar crisis in 2007, the industry again teeters on the brink of collapse. In a survey four weeks ago, 70% of farmers said they would quit production if returns did not improve.
Little wonder farmers are being more vocal about their plight and the message is getting through. Consumer research just before Christmas showed public opinion even more solidly behind farmers than in 2007, with more shoppers saying they are prepared to pay more for higher-welfare products, and that British standards of welfare compared with the rest of Europe are something to be proud of. Consumers, faced with rising prices, would be less than enamoured of retailer motives if they felt the higher prices they are paying for pork were not being passed back to farmers.
Our representative bodies have made it clear to all the major supermarket groups that the solution to the current crisis lies totally in their control. The dedicated supply chain arrangements we have proposed built on total transparency would avoid the catastrophic situation producers face today. They would also ensure that an efficient industry, which receives no government aid and has a relatively benign impact on the environment, can continue to be part of the solution to avoiding a global food crisis. Retailers, processors and their shareholders are effectively being subsidised from the pig industry's balance sheet. This is not only morally bankrupt, it is quite simply unsustainable.
Examples of effective supply chains do exist where risk and reward are shared equitably Waitrose, for example, is continuing to invest from farm gate to retail shelf even during the current crisis. It is investing in further efficiencies, environmental benefits, animal welfare, product quality and the people and skills needed to fuel the necessary growth over the next 20 years.
Dedicated supply chains are not a distant dream. They are a reality. They work. They are the solution. I invite other retailers to become part of the solution, too.
Richard Longthorp is a pig producer and arable farmer in East Yorkshire. He was awarded an OBE this year
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