Supermarket veg price war ‘risks devaluing food’ say farmers

With festive shoppers snapping up carrots, parsnips and Brussels sprouts for as little as 5p a packet, NFU Scotland says the bargains come at a cost to farmers and the value of food.

Morrisons, Lidl and Aldi are selling vegetables at jaw-dropping prices, with Sainsbury’s and Tesco not far behind.

MoneySavingExpert reports this is the lowest pre-Christmas price since tracking began in 2015, with 1kg of carrots dropping from 69p to just 5p in some stores.

Morrisons cuts the price of British farmed Christmas veg to just 5p

Why, and how?

Will they be eaten or thrown away?
Will it be argued that 5p veg is a health incentive?
If you owned a farm shop, not great really@JeremyClarkson@agricontract @TWBFarms https://t.co/7f797uAc7M

— martin williams (@loosecollie) December 18, 2025

See also: Campaign for supermarket fairness builds momentum

NFU Scotland president Andrew Connon warned that aggressive discounting risks devaluing domestic produce.

Speaking at a press briefing in Edinburgh this week, he said: “The classic is 6p for a bag of carrots. Retailers will argue that it is what they need to do to attract their customers, but at the same time it does have the potential to devalue food.

“And, considering the costs of producing that food, to see that type of price being highlighted tends to undermine domestic production and the food producers who are working so hard to produce a quality product.”

Supermarket price war

NFU Scotland chief executive John Davidson said: “This is essentially a price war on fresh produce. Some retailers lowered their prices last year to 15p or 10p and we’re now seeing 6p for various promotions across the vegetables.

“We believe that given that context of food prices, that’s a very bad signal in terms of devaluing food. We think it probably encourages waste. I think it widens the disconnect between consumers and the general cost of food production.

“There are always promotions throughout the year, but this is excessive.”

The union’s ShelfWatch initiative, now more than a year old, monitors sourcing, labelling and promotion practices while championing retailers supporting Scottish and British produce.

NFU Scotland has written to eight major retailers, including Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl and Tesco, urging them to end excessive discounting on key food products – particularly vegetables – during the festive season.

Retailers must adopt pricing strategies that reflect the true value of food, support fair pricing across the supply chain, and champion domestic production, the union says.

Carmichael backing

Alistair Carmichael, Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland, and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee chairman,  backed the calls in Parliament on Thursday (18 December), highlighting the danger of supermarket price wars to farmers.

He asked Defra secretary Emma Reynolds what she was doing to ensure that when supermarkets sell under the cost of production, that cost is borne by the supermarkets, not farmers.

She replied: “As the right honourable gentleman will know, we have already introduced fair dealing regulations for pig and dairy farmers, but I agree with him that we need to look to go further.”

NFUS data shows more than 50% of vegetables in major supermarkets are imported despite domestic availability, reinforcing the union’s push for stronger Scottish sourcing, transparent pricing, and fairer treatment of primary producers.