Farmers Strike Highlights Need For Fair Trade

Consumers and politicians are being urged by Scotland’s farming union to join the campaign to tackle the increasing power of the supermarkets. NFU Scotland is reiterating its call for urgent political action as some Scottish farmers start taking strike action and withholding produce to protest at unsustainable farmgate prices. A three-day strike has been organised by Farmers For Action starting today.

For a year now, NFUS has been urging Government and the Competition Authorities to tackle the imbalance of power within the food and drink supply chain which has seen supermarket margins increase on the back of reducing prices to farmers. NFUS is calling for a further Competition Commission investigation into the retail sector and the introduction of an independent watchdog to police fair trade between UK supermarkets and their suppliers.

NFUS has emphasised that some supermarket and supplier relationships work very well, but there is too much fear in the supply chain and there is no means of tackling abuses of power.

NFUS meetings with politicians at Holyrood start tomorrow and come ahead of action on Saturday when farmers will be speaking to shoppers around the country. Farmers will be in supermarkets highlighting the growing gap between the shelf price and the price paid to them (see notes for examples). Farmers will also be at some farmers markets thanking shoppers for their support for the markets and local produce and urging them to put pressure on politicians to address the power of the supermarkets.

NFUS President John Kinnaird said:
“As supermarket margins have grown, farmers have faced a destructive squeeze on their own businesses. Farmers are now saying enough is enough. It has now got to the point that farmers are starting strike action; withholding produce to protest at the unsustainable prices they are being paid. Many farmers are simply not in a position to take part in a strike as it adds to an already serious financial situation and causes real problems for those committed to supply contracts. Yet, the fact this is even being talked about should be a clear message that the current situation cannot continue.

“If supermarkets want to continue to increase their margins at farmers’ expense, they could destroy much of our local food industry. We are already seeing local food processing facilities close and the financial squeeze which has seen a quarter of Scotland’s dairy farms quit in the last five years is now being felt across all sectors of agriculture.

“The First Minister has recognised this problem and has already highlighted to supermarkets that they will be starved of supply if they starve farmers of a fair price. We now need action. I have already discussed this issue with Mr McConnell and tomorrow I begin a series of meetings with the major political parties.
“Around 80 per cent of the food and drink produced in this country is sold through the major supermarkets and the misuse of power must be addressed if we want to secure the future of Scotland’s world famous food industry.”

fromhttp://www.nfus.org.uk/news_detail.asp?newsID=704&homepage=yes