So Tesco has posted another set of record profits - prompting admiration and abuse in just about equal measure. A quick skim through the FWi forums reveals this split reaction.
Some refer to Tesco as a "virus" that attempts to dominate the market through aggression. The profits it makes are referred to as "blood money" and one farmer predicts that Tesco will ultimately fail "as all empires based on greed fail".
But others take a more positive view, describing Tesco as "incredibly innovative" and "lean, mean and hungry for business". "I'd rather deal with a firm which shows a profit and has a positive net worth," said one contributor.
For my part, I like to look at the numbers to get a perspective. The headline figures show that Tesco achieved a £3.1bn profit on a global turnover of £59bn in the past year - giving a return on sales of about 5%.
Over a similar period, British agriculture achieved a net income of about £3.5bn on agricultural output of £20bn - a return on sales of about 17%, and a seemingly better performance even than Tesco.
But take away the £3.2bn single farm payment - well, it is supposed to be decoupled after all - and UK farming "profit" drops to just £300m.
Based on the same level of agricultural output, that suggests the actual return on sales for UK agriculture is closer to 1.5%, considerably worse than Tesco.
Then there is profit growth to consider. The nice bloke from the British Retail Consortium on Radio 5 Live was very quick to point out that farm incomes had grown by 36% last year, whereas Tesco's profit was up just 10%.
What he failed to mention was that agriculture was starting from a very low base, having endured years of restricted profits, whereas Tesco has enjoyed sustained profit growth, year in, year out.
Of course you can prove just about anything with statistics and the overall picture is far more complex than these simple fag packet calculations.
The message I take from all this is that, for a variety of reasons, British agriculture and British retailing are surviving the current recession remarkably well.
What concerns me, though, is that much of the retailers' success is down to market domination and an ability to extract a guaranteed margin, be it from selling clothes, food, plasma TVs or financial services.
Much of UK agriculture's success is down to the 20% devaluation of sterling that has occurred since the onset of recession - and that is likely to be far less sustainable as other political and economic forces come into play.
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I think its remarkable how Tescos maintains its market position despite what I perceive as a noticeable drop in the quality of its products. Others have made the same observation, and I often hear from friends and relatives that they don't shop much in Tescos anymore. Price will always be a factor for consumers, but surely choice and quality also have a pull. Have Tescos taken their eye off the ball and forgotten to give the customers what they want?