Should Sainsbury’s phase out the Red Tractor?
In light of the recent Sainsbury’s decision to phase out the Red Tractor logo, I decided to go on a fact-finding mission. This involved an afternoon spent food shopping!
I was very pleasantly surprised to find more Union Flags since the Olympics, combined with a whole fleet of Red Tractors. This was obviously not in one of the big boy’s stores, but in the discount supermarkets. As a result, Mrs Blenkiron will have to change some of her shopping habits. Don’t you just love being dictatorial to the wife? If only I were that brave, in fact she is in full agreement.
What is wrong with those of us involved in the industry getting behind a single identifiable brand, logo – call it what you will. Thankfully the most producer-friendly supermarket has quite rightly called for us to unite behind the produce and logo which we should be so proud of.
In addition to the prestige fleet of Red Tractors, there were also many mentions of why the discounters are supporting UK producers and so on. This is something that the big boys seem to pay lip service to, but don’t actually deliver on. Now that supplies are tightening and prices are in our favour, is this the time to get them to play our game?
To coin a phrase from a recent meeting, is this the time to recapture some of the cash that producers are losing out on, the difference between what farmers get and what the consumer pays? Can I see this happening? Afraid not, especially if we can’t even stick together to make sure that our produce is marketed under a unified logo.
We haven’t quite managed to find sugar beet paradise, but the sugar content has eventually crept upwards, with one-third of the crop harvested. Dan, the Bury factory manager, assures me that it has nothing what so ever to do with my comments last month!
