Post ATJQcrwsCb9pt0cPMO by Sir_Ivissia@chudbuds.lol
(DIR) More posts by Sir_Ivissia@chudbuds.lol
(DIR) Post #ATJChL7O894Z1ZZfhw by HebrideanHecate@spinster.xyz
2023-03-05T14:44:05.839298Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64853683As an example of “market failure”, Mr Dimbleby, who advises the government on food strategy in England, said UK lettuce prices in supermarkets were kept stable, regardless of whether there was a shortage or over supply.He said this meant farmers could not sell all their produce when they had too much - or be incentivised to grow more.“If there’s bad weather across Europe, because there’s a scarcity, supermarkets put their prices up - but not in the UK. And therefore at the margin, the suppliers will supply to France, Germany, Ukraine,” he told the Guardian newspaper.But Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which represents UK supermarkets, said retailers were “pragmatists and recognise they need to pay more when costs are high and product is short”.“They’re working with growers every day,” he added.Mr Opie said regulation for supermarkets in many European countries meant retailers there were “able to, and actually required” to pass on extra costs to customers.Mr Dimbleby, however, said he found the current situation “frustrating” because “everyone is suddenly worried about a gap of vegetables in February, when there are much bigger structural issues”.“There’s just this weird supermarket culture,” he said. “A weird competitive dynamic that’s emerged in the UK, and nowhere else in the world has it, and I don’t know why that is.”
(DIR) Post #ATJChLqPQl5LHCdcsi by HebrideanHecate@spinster.xyz
2023-03-05T14:52:47.687034Z
2 likes, 0 repeats
@Flick What are these people smoking.“The NFU president said the war in Ukraine had changed the outlook for food security, but added she had been told previously by ministers and officials that “food grown on our land is really not important at all, we are a wealthy nation and we can afford to import it”.“I think that is now looking naïve in the extreme,” she said. “We’ve got huge capability here to be producing more of our fruit and vegetables.””
(DIR) Post #ATJE2USCiPja0vxaLY by Flick@spinster.xyz
2023-03-05T15:10:32.218112Z
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@HebrideanHecate Absolutely bonkers. Farmers have been warning that there would be a shortage of things like tomatoes for months, eggs even longer.
(DIR) Post #ATJEQv9p5GDXme0nWy by HebrideanHecate@spinster.xyz
2023-03-05T15:11:49.016664Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@Flick It’s outrageous.
(DIR) Post #ATJFLP0LIfSeZMVfxA by Sir_Ivissia@chudbuds.lol
2023-03-05T15:24:10.288939Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
For all the "Food grown on our land is not important" I'm hearing from Whitehall I'm getting an awful lot of phone calls from abattoirs and supermarket buyers trying to lock down a price and delivery date.In related news, Tesco can fuck all the way off.
(DIR) Post #ATJNWBVWmhBCepwtDU by Flick@spinster.xyz
2023-03-05T16:56:45.087066Z
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@Sir_Ivissia @HebrideanHecate TescoJust in general, or have they been messing you around particularly?
(DIR) Post #ATJQcrwsCb9pt0cPMO by Sir_Ivissia@chudbuds.lol
2023-03-05T17:15:54.854782Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
Bit of both. They're doing their usual shit - food prices in store go up, what they try to pay suppliers goes down. Sad thing is it works a lot of times - there's a temptation for a lot of farmers to take a guaranteed market for a multi year contract.
(DIR) Post #ATJREKmDyxvS0gVCm8 by Flick@spinster.xyz
2023-03-05T17:38:20.748716Z
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@Sir_Ivissia @HebrideanHecate Guaranteed cash flow is very enticing.
(DIR) Post #ATJT9zCyQoy5rm4JLU by EmmyNoether@spinster.xyz
2023-03-05T17:47:28.283093Z
2 likes, 0 repeats
@Flick @Sir_Ivissia @HebrideanHecate I remember reading an article in the Economist a year or so ago arguing that we spend a lot of time worrying about monopolies (single sellers) and not nearly enough time worrying about monopsomies (single buyers) when in fact the latter do just as much damage in distorting the market - he gave big supermarkets as an example. Although technically not really a monopsomy (there are five or six big names) they spend so much time price-matching each other they might as well be.For instance it’s been known for years that they use their market clout to force dairy farmers to sell milk at below cost price a lot of the time (I believe - someone with more knowledge may correct me - that the Co-op is the one exception to this).
(DIR) Post #ATJTBRJpP1vZL5y3Wa by Sir_Ivissia@chudbuds.lol
2023-03-05T17:55:49.963850Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
Don't know for milk, but for meat and crops that's bang on. Throw in the shuttering of a lot of independent abattoirs and the constantly increasing regulatory and vet requirements and the situation starts to look grim.