>Dimbleby disagreed with the environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, who denied that the recent shortages of eggs and vegetables was a “market failure”. He said: “This is a problem of market failure in the specifically British food system. It’s going to get worse. The UK food system is, I think, unique – I don’t know another system where the supermarkets have these fixed-price contracts with suppliers. So, basically, you have no effective market. It’s a very difficult one for the government to solve, but it does need to be resolved.”
From my limited knowledge this certainly does seem to be true. A system has developed that allows supermarkets to dictate terrible terms to farmers and suppliers, to the detriment of all of us.
They just take longer to ripen on these sunlit uplands
Just eat seasonally lmao like people did for thousands of years. You don’t need shit plastic supermarket tomatoes in your life
A lettuce costs 70p whether farmers’ sheds are bulging with them or whether they’re rare as hens’ teeth
Doesn’t sound like capitalism, to me
Why do I feel like I’m seeing tsar used more and more in the last few years?
There will be plenty of food on the shelves soon. Because no bugger will be able to afford to buy groceries.
I visited the city market during my lunch break on Wednesday after struggling to find fresh veg in the supermarket. The stalls were packed with produce – including everything we’ve been told the supermarkets can’t get their hands on.
The problem is very much with the supermarkets.
[deleted]
Half the commercial greenhouses in the Lea valley didn’t bother growing. For exam this reason.
Half.
Supermarkets have been screwing UK farmers over for decades.
Our weird supermarket culture where farmers get ripped off to provide massive corporations with loss leaders who don’t want “surplus” produce when in season because it won’t make enough money for them.
Funny how I don’t remember any of this happening in the last 30 years, I suppose we have to ask ourselves has there been any massive policy changes or political events that have cause this for it to suddenly start happening
Strangely enough, farmers can’t consistently sell produce to supermarkets at a loss – who’d have thought it?
Is this people finally realising that food and farming in the UK is a complex issue where realistically the only solution is either the government subsidises farmers or food prices in supermarkets go up? Supermarket fixed contracts have kept prices depressed for so long and now that the system has taken a shock prices are skyrocketing.
Food culture in this country is fucked, the way capitalism works in this country is fucked, work culture in this country is fucked.
For anyone interested in British history and developing a closer relationship with food that has been eaten here for hundreds if not thousands of years, there are a couple of sites floating around that have found or rebuilt recipes from the 14th century onwards:
[The Foods of England Project](http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/references.htm) (scroll to the bottom for the index) references many cookbooks, and despite its name includes plenty of foods from Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Mann, the Channel Islands and the Orkneys and Shetlands.
[British Food History](https://britishfoodhistory.com/) focuses more on desserts and sweet treats but he goes into great depths of the history of each dish.
We should aim to eat more seasonally and develop a food culture that pays farmers a much fairer price for their produce. We should also encourage farmers to focus on produce that is less harmful to the environment and we should all make an effort to move away from processed food.
>Experts have criticised ministers for “leaving food policy to Tesco”
Every time the market is left to it’s own devices, bloody corporations always find a way to fuck things up for everyone.
funny how since brexit the uk supermarkets are to blame…
I blame uk government red tape on farmers… let them grow whatever they want
Problem is everywhere; it’s central banks devaluing currency throughout the world…lessening purchasing power…less is produced because there is no incentive to do so unless prices rise. It is the central banks. I repeat…it is not just a uk problem. You guys blame tories…we blame republicans. All the while they get to carry on with their merry game of ruining the world. What a joke.
18 comments
>Dimbleby disagreed with the environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, who denied that the recent shortages of eggs and vegetables was a “market failure”. He said: “This is a problem of market failure in the specifically British food system. It’s going to get worse. The UK food system is, I think, unique – I don’t know another system where the supermarkets have these fixed-price contracts with suppliers. So, basically, you have no effective market. It’s a very difficult one for the government to solve, but it does need to be resolved.”
From my limited knowledge this certainly does seem to be true. A system has developed that allows supermarkets to dictate terrible terms to farmers and suppliers, to the detriment of all of us.
They just take longer to ripen on these sunlit uplands
Just eat seasonally lmao like people did for thousands of years. You don’t need shit plastic supermarket tomatoes in your life
A lettuce costs 70p whether farmers’ sheds are bulging with them or whether they’re rare as hens’ teeth
Doesn’t sound like capitalism, to me
Why do I feel like I’m seeing tsar used more and more in the last few years?
There will be plenty of food on the shelves soon. Because no bugger will be able to afford to buy groceries.
I visited the city market during my lunch break on Wednesday after struggling to find fresh veg in the supermarket. The stalls were packed with produce – including everything we’ve been told the supermarkets can’t get their hands on.
The problem is very much with the supermarkets.
[deleted]
Half the commercial greenhouses in the Lea valley didn’t bother growing. For exam this reason.
Half.
Supermarkets have been screwing UK farmers over for decades.
Our weird supermarket culture where farmers get ripped off to provide massive corporations with loss leaders who don’t want “surplus” produce when in season because it won’t make enough money for them.
Funny how I don’t remember any of this happening in the last 30 years, I suppose we have to ask ourselves has there been any massive policy changes or political events that have cause this for it to suddenly start happening
Strangely enough, farmers can’t consistently sell produce to supermarkets at a loss – who’d have thought it?
Is this people finally realising that food and farming in the UK is a complex issue where realistically the only solution is either the government subsidises farmers or food prices in supermarkets go up? Supermarket fixed contracts have kept prices depressed for so long and now that the system has taken a shock prices are skyrocketing.
Food culture in this country is fucked, the way capitalism works in this country is fucked, work culture in this country is fucked.
For anyone interested in British history and developing a closer relationship with food that has been eaten here for hundreds if not thousands of years, there are a couple of sites floating around that have found or rebuilt recipes from the 14th century onwards:
[The Foods of England Project](http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/references.htm) (scroll to the bottom for the index) references many cookbooks, and despite its name includes plenty of foods from Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Mann, the Channel Islands and the Orkneys and Shetlands.
[Gode Cookery](http://www.godecookery.com/engrec/engrec.html) has some lovely recipes from the 17th century in particular.
[British Food History](https://britishfoodhistory.com/) focuses more on desserts and sweet treats but he goes into great depths of the history of each dish.
We should aim to eat more seasonally and develop a food culture that pays farmers a much fairer price for their produce. We should also encourage farmers to focus on produce that is less harmful to the environment and we should all make an effort to move away from processed food.
>Experts have criticised ministers for “leaving food policy to Tesco”
Every time the market is left to it’s own devices, bloody corporations always find a way to fuck things up for everyone.
funny how since brexit the uk supermarkets are to blame…
I blame uk government red tape on farmers… let them grow whatever they want
Problem is everywhere; it’s central banks devaluing currency throughout the world…lessening purchasing power…less is produced because there is no incentive to do so unless prices rise. It is the central banks. I repeat…it is not just a uk problem. You guys blame tories…we blame republicans. All the while they get to carry on with their merry game of ruining the world. What a joke.