£1 billion in 6 months.

How the fook?

GIVE SOME BACK!

Having read Gwyn Jones' article in British Dairying I was surprised by the logic of his suggestion. We, the producers should be invoicing our customers, (ie. dairy processors). How many businesses exist where they ask the customer to pay what they think should be a correct price after they have counted for their commodity shifting problems?Doh!. Send a simple invoice for the milk you have sent to your dairy at the price that you think is justified, and ask them to pay it within 14 days. Can we blame Tesco for taking our profit if we don't claim it? Stop wingeing and act.Your dairy is taking your profit and pushing you out of business,Stop them now!

In  a 1976 Farmers Weekly, milk was 5p a pint to the farmer . It is now 10 p per pint!!

So it has only doubled in 30 YEARS!!

That reflects supermarket expansion , and agricultural decline!

Meanwhile, this year's Farmer's Weekly is £1--95 pence !! The 1976 copy ,with the  5 pence per pint milk ,cost   23 pence!!   So the 2006 copy is  8.5 TIMES THE  PRICE  of the 1976 copy ....... which was an inch taller, an inch wider and three times as thick as this year's !!

The  former  fact  reflects 30 years of inflation......and  the latter  fact, 30 years of shrinkage of the Agricultual economy!!!

All supermarkets dont care where they get products from, despite talk of sourcing localy etc. To them the only thing that matters is profit!

They'll go bust if they didn't make a profit, NM.  What we want is for them to pay us decent money and then make a profit.

Tesco have their eye on profits only - I completely agree that they couldn't care less beyond that.  They, along withfellow supermarkets are bleeding the British Agricultural sector dry slowly and painfully.  British farmers work damned hard, myself and my family included, and it knocks me sick to think of Tesco fat cats rolling around in OUR money. 

What i meant to say was : THEY ARE ALL A BUNCH OF THIEVING GITS WHO ARE QUITE HAPPY TO SCREW THE PRICE THEY PAY BELOW WHAT THE FARMER CAN PRODUCE IT FOR! ! !

And i would realy like to know what they are gonna do when they eventually drive us all out of buisness??

 

About 3 or 4 years ago , Pembroke potatoes were a measly £30 PER TONNE, ex-farm  in September. That is 75 PENCE PER  25Kg SACK ....or 1.5 pence per pound weight!!

Meanwhile, in a Tesco store IN WEST WALES , less than 30 miles from the fields of Pembroke, "Pembroke Potatoes"  were being sold for 22 PENCE PER POUND!! That is £12--10pence  per 25kg or 55lb sack!!  That is also £484 PER TONNE, which is a   1500 PER CENT  MARK UP ON THE FARM GATE PRICE  AT THE TIME!!

That is immoral!! British farmers are being exploited by large supermarkets  using their  buying muscle. If they say they pay the MARKET PRICE........they have CREATED the market price by killing off  ALMOST ALL THE OPPOSITION, in the first place.  It is the RUNNER-UP  in  a healthy bidding war in the early morning  markets of Covent Garden, Manchester, Birmingham etc, who should set the PRICE of potatoes.

Well, the BIG supermarket buyers , representing, the BULK  of UK consumers are not even in those early morning markets. So the UK price is being set by buyers representing a MINORITY  of British consumers.

Bidding is therefore weak!! The PRICE is set by the supermarkets!!

Do they think farmers are stupid? Tesco , Sainsbury's, Asda   et al can DICTATE the price the British farmer gets. The Govt will do very little  about it ,because the supermarkets  BANKROLL  the Labour Party. David Sainsbury gave Labour £11 MILLION to win 2 elections......SO HE WAS MADE A LORD!! 

HE WHO PAYS THE PIPER CALLS THE TUNE!!!

don

I totaly agree with you!!

Northern Monkey,

Good grief !! Mr Monkey  "totally agrees with me"  on something !!!??   You see, Mr Monkey, I have more knowledge on a LOT of things than you have given me credit for!!   I certainly know how the market-price works. For example,  if there are too many potatoes, the merchants will soon  TALK DOWN the price and phone each other to compare notes. But a farmer has  great difficulty TALKING UP  the price when there is a shortage !! The price can DROP   £80 per tonne in a day, but when it GOES UP, it often only rises £5 or £10 per tonne in a day.

  The supermarket buyers  sit in the background shadows, actually MANIPULATING  the price and PRETENDING  to be following the "supply and demand" trend. How much of an ILLEGAL CARTEL  is there? When  FOUR  supermarkets can CONTROL  the food prices of 60 million people  the market is open to real abuse!! The "supply and demand" is down to their SAY-SO at the end of the day.Do the BIG BUYERS  contact each other ?

Believe it or not.......I know a lot about WIND  ENERGY  too!!  BIG BUSINESS RIGS THAT MARKET TOO!!! Farmers are like playthings  to the BIG  "movers and shakers" of   international business!

Farmers need to SPEAK UP  in national papers , read by MILLIONS !!  Too many farmers keep PREACHING TO THE CONVERTED  in the farming Press!!

Where is the "runner-up" who pushes  the  auction price?

Easy Don, save the grief for the supermarkets on this one!

As for me, im gonna go swing on them big ol wind turbines see ya later.

ps   Tarzen says hi.

Northern Monkey,

If you're going to swing on the big wind  turbines , mind your monkey nuts !! Those  fibre glass blades are very sharp  so  you might find you're  singing  baritone on the upswing and  soprano on the way down !! You'll be putting the  local Vet out of work!! Careful!!

You'll be no good to Jane if a blade catches  you  !!  Mind you!!  You could always recuperate in lovely Madeira [see  www.visit-madeira.co.uk ] . They've got plenty of trees on the hills there and not a single dangerous wind turbine ,  simply because Madeira takes tourism seriously and does not want to lose its natural , verdant , scenic beauty. The politicians of Wales and Scotland  must  have taken leave of their senses , to allow so many wind turbines on their unspoilt hills..!

Don

Is there any bananas in Madeira, cos i dont want to add to Tescos obsene profits by getting any from them ??

Northern Monkey,

PLENTY  of bananas in Madeira , Mr Monkey. See  www.visit-madeira.co.uk . They grow in the gardens of Funchal.  You would be in your element swinging about the banana plants.   Try www.visit-tenerife.net  as well if you want bananas!! Plantations  galore!!They even have a handful of small wind turbines in the north of Tenerife. You could swing there too!!