farmer boy

A number of weeks back you may have noticed Asda cut the price of 4 pints of milk to 99p,they then upped the price to their farmer suppliers by 0.5p.The slogan that went with the ad campaign talked about offering low prices without "milking their farmers".
This week Arla(milk company who supply Asda) reported a year to end loss of £900,000 and promptly cut the price to its milk farmer producers of 0.9p.
The average cost to produce 1 litre of milk is between 20-21p.
The average price paid overall by the different milk companies is 18-19p.
This has been the case for 4-5 years.
Does "Joe Public" actually care?

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

Makes me laugh all this fair trade crap they bang on about, when they screw our own farmers left right and centre.Not just milk either

shaunywrx

Just grovel about you need more subsidie's and bang on and on about how poor you are as normal.

farmer boy

Remember all that cheap Brazillian beef you all bought,?
That country has a big problem with foot and mouth disease,animals are not required to be individually tagged for traceability yet the big 4 supermarkets think it is safe enough to sell it to you BECAUSE ITS CHEAP!!.Wouldnt feed it to my dogs.
Shaunywrx,take it your a farmer hatin,vegtable eatin black tea drinker then?
Dont you like milk on your cornflakes,cream with your strawberries,ice cream for your kiddies on a hot day?

Turbohot

Very bad.I would reach Fair Trade Foundation,if I were you.

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

After doing IT support for Dairy Farmers of GB I saw just how bad it was - the number of farmers giving up and doing some that they could earn a living off was shocking.

Not good at all - and the strigent tests that they HAVE to go through for every litre of milk they produce - wow... I only hope all that import stuff has to be checked as much!

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

I think the farmers need to form a kind of OPEC agreement, its sick when you see what these big companies make, some clever arsed graduate probably sat there with spreadsheets and powerpoint presentations to show how much they can make if they screw the farmers a bit more, its a tough and essential job, there should be rewards worth having for doing 18 hour days.

Tesco's in particular needs taking down a peg or two.

Tim-Grove

That’s the top and bottom of it I’m afraid. It’s a case of “I’m alright jack”. As long as it’s not affecting you directly you couldn’t give a flying ****.

If you could pay 10quid a month less for your electricity but as a result of cost cutting I lost my job you’d take the 10quid a month wouldn’t you?? It’s not because you’re a tight git and you want your 10quid, it’s because you don’t know me so why should you care?? Which is fare enough.

That’s the world we live in now I’m afraid. Don’t you just love capitalism.

Iwan

The scary thing is the farmers only make a profit because of the subsidies they get from the EU. I worked on a farm when I was at school and any milk that was produced over the farm's quota amount had to be poured down the drain (often hundreds of litres a day). As the farm was paid for its quota, it was illegal for them to sell any of the surplus, we all used to take gallon bottles along with us to the farm to fill up before the surplus went down the drain.

Very sad to see such waste on a daily basis.

ScoobyDoo555

I'm with you, Farmer boy. Living in the countryside and having relatives who work/worked in the farming industry, I see these attitudes first hand.

A simple case of tarring all farmers with the same brush. Yes, there are super-farmers who make a LOT of money out of their busines. However, 95% of farmers aren't wealthy at all. Most own their land, which in theory is worth alot of money. But that's the same as owning a £1million house. The value is worthless whist you're using it!!

Just a lack awareness on Joe Public's part. TBH, all these supermarkets need being brought down a peg or two... Joe Public will pay more for goods - look at the petrol prices.....

Dan

farmer boy

The biggest problem is,because we (the farmers) are at the bottom of the supply chain,we cannot pass any of our increasing costs on to anyone else(which everyone else does)and we are the last to see any price increases.
Even if milk went up 10p/ litre tomorrow,which anyone can afford,that money would go either to the supermarket or the milk processing company to increase their yearly profits.
What we are being forced to become is "factory farms" just to survive,keeping more animals to try to make a living.
How many of you would work 10-12 hrs day,every day for less than £3/hr(self-employed)?I`d get more workin for McDonalds...however...
By watchin the finances closely,we can keep a scooby on the road........

corradoboy

I remember reading about farmers in Wales who made a stand. Put big billboards in their fields offering pick your own and low prices to p!ss off the supermarkets. One who'd spent a season cultivating cauliflours was offered 0.5 each for them, only to see the b@stards put them on the shelves at 87p.

I buy almost all my food at local farm shops these days. It's better value, better quality, and I feel good about supporting my local community instead of making fat cats fatter. The supermarket is just for cleaning products and @rsewipe now.

farmer boy

we need 5 million more like you,corradoboy!!

corradoboy

IIRC, the guy who was offered 0.5p per cauli turned them back into his field out of spite

Turbohot

Very well said

farmer boy

The power supermarkets have these days is phenomenal.
The leader of "Farmers for Action" claims that a city analyst told him that only for the 4pint milk price drop,inflation would have risen for that month,the city were expecting it.
Then,it is aledged, asda bosses had a meeting with Blair at Chequers....

Turbohot

I wonder what the situation is with milkmen.Our local village milkman is charging 41p a pint but I wonder how much he is paying the dairy farmer?

Chip Sengravy

If I was getting out of bed at 2am everyday and trundling round in an milkfloat that stunk of rotten milk all year round, I'd charge a fiver a litre!

406dude

market forces pure and simple - create your own market, plenty of farmers around my way have made a mint by selling directly to the consumer.

Either that or sell the land you have. A farming friend of mine who is always moaning about there being no money in it is sat on 180 acres at 3k an acre...hmm. You could of course re-train.

I apologise if this comes across harsh, but as a self employed businessman you must be able to see my point.

boomer

What really stinks is where ASquith + DAiries first began. See their proud history at the ASDA website, where local butchers and dairy farmers first got together. However, even in the '60s, the US influence had begun with G.E.M.


mb

Lee247

Yes, we do
I work for a farm, a couple of days a week, I do his accounts. It is shocking how little support there is for such an important part of our way of life
I always buy from the local farm shops whenever I can.

tmo

You should see the size of the new Arla site in Leeds, money no object !!

Reality

21p to produce a litre of milk - The stuff comes oot of cows for free FFS.

Most consumers only care about 1 thing - Price !

john_s

iTrader: (1)

It's just keeping the cows, feeding them, vets' fees, etc that costs money. Oh and getting the milk out of the cows, chilling it, storing it, transporting it, bottling it...

John.

Leslie

I follow corradaboy's example. We have some very good farmer's markets in this part of the country.

I think it is shameful how the supermarkets use their purchasing power to deliberately pay the farmers the minimum amount they can get away with since they are able to work out the farmer's costs to the last penny. Nothing less than absolute greed.

The other bee in my bonnet is the dreadful waste of food generated by Eu regulations simply to keep prices up, when that food could be sent to somewhere where it will do the most good such as the third world countries where people are starving and their corrupt leaders are getting rich off their backs.

Les

Chrisgr31

Not all farm shops are selling goods from the farm, or even the area! Saw a farm shop at the weekend which was selling grapefruit!

We buy all our meat and eggs from a farm where they are produced, actually get to see the new born lambs, and pigs, and advise our 18 month old daughter that our future bacon is growing! Talking about bacon its lovely, fattier than the supermarket stuff, but doesn't leak water when cooked!

Fruit and veg is more of a problem. In the autumn and winter we buy appleas and pear from a local farm who supplies one of the large supermarkets. We buy them at half the price the supermarket sells them for and the farmer makes twice the amount from us!

However nowhere locally grows green veg, root veg etc commercially so no point going to the farm shop, although do buy aspargus locally when its in season!

Andy-C

Why Tesco in particular. NOBODY is forced into walking into a supermarket to do their shopping. People do it for convenience, pure and simple.

Supermarkets source products from all over the world, so the consumer can have a choice of fresh fruit and veg, not seasonal stock like you would get in a local market. They also negotiate long and hard on behalf of the consumer to obtain the prices they get, so the consumer is getting better value for money ALL THE TIME.

I sympathise with farmers about the way they are squeezed, however they do take on contracts with the supermarkets to guarantee an income, something that wouldn't happen if they just ran a farmshop.

Tesco have made a temendous profit last year, but very little of that came from the grocery sector. Most of it comes from other area's of the business, and because they are very careful with stratigic planning and where their money is going, do they deseve to be 'taken down a peg or two' moreso than other supermarkets?

Peanuts

iTrader: (15)

yes definately, TESCO are the worst offenders, regardless of your "tie" with them

Andy-C

My only sin is to work for them. I am not by any means pro Tesco. I work for them, they pay me a wage, and I will stay loyal until a better offer comes along


As I said before, I do sypathise with the farmers, but nobody is forced to shop in a supermarket, Tesco or not.

If everybody went to farm shops, independant electrical retailers, their own banks, etc, then supermarkets will have to 'down-size'. The reverse side of the coin would be consumers would have to pay a lot more money for their products, and as we all know, everyone wants the best deal for their money.

Peanuts, I cannot understand why Tesco are the worst offenders. Is it by virture of the fact that they are the most sucessful supermarket in the UK, thus having the biggest market share, or some other reason?
Please do not see this as a 'dig'. It isn't. I am genuinely interested as to why Tesco are perceived as the worst offenders.

Peanuts

iTrader: (15)

because John Nokes says they are the meanest on countryfile website, so it must be true
HTH