MPs urge supermarkets to help farmers more despite assurances
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Version 0 of 1. MPs have called for supermarkets to do more to help British farmers and warned a government programme designed to offer support to the industry has turned into a “fiasco”. Two separate reports were launched by MPs after a sharp fall in the price that farmers were paid for milk last year. The National Farmers’ Union warned dairy producers were facing a state of emergency. Supermarkets responded by increasing the price they paid for milk and pledging to link their agreement with farmers to the cost of production. The leading retailers denied that sharp cuts to the price of milk in their shops – part of an industry price war – was affecting the price they paid farmers. But the environment, food and rural affairs select committee questioned the assurances by the leading supermarkets. Its report said: “While farmers engaged in contractual arrangements with supermarkets, directly or otherwise, are guaranteed a price for their milk for specific periods, the chronic low price of milk sold through supermarkets inevitably disadvantages farmers in the longer term. “Supermarkets may choose to sell milk cheaply as a loss leader, but farmers must not be the victims of the supermarket wars currently taking place in the UK. Progress is uneven among supermarkets and assurances must be met with action.” The MPs also said the government must tighten misleading rules over the labelling of products, so customers were aware where their food had been sourced, and that farmers, processors and retailers should agree long-term contracts that provided predictable levels of income. Neil Parish, chair of the committee, said: “Many people in Britain want to support a British agricultural industry. But Defra’s [the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’] current guidance on origin labelling allows for companies to sell products such as cheese and butter as British when the raw product is being sourced oversees. “As a result consumers are given a false impression that they are supporting a home industry when in fact their money is not supporting UK farmers at all. The British public deserve to buy British in confidence.” Parish added that the Rural Payments Agency, a government body designed to provide financial support to farmers, must also be overhauled. The RPA makes 105,000 payments worth £1.8bn a year to farmers. However, it has been dogged by IT problems, with grants to cash-strapped farms delayed since last year. The agency has a target of paying more than 90% of farmers on 1 December, the first day of the payment window, but last year paid just 38%. A separate report by the public accounts committee (PAC) lambasted the common agricultural policy delivery programme, which is responsible for the new IT system that has caused the delays to payments. The programme has been developed by the RPA, Defra and the government digital service. MPs said it could cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds and had been a “fiasco”. Meg Hillier, PAC chairwoman, said: “This programme was set up to deliver support to UK farmers. Instead, it delivered an appalling Whitehall fiasco. “It was frankly embarrassing to learn of senior and highly paid civil servants arguing to the detriment of hard-pressed farmers.” “Explanations such as ‘we worked on different floors’ and ‘we dressed differently’ are a slap in the face to them and a dismal excuse for failures that could severely hit the public purse.” The farmers’ union welcomed the MPs’ findings but said there need to be immediate action. Its president, Meurig Raymond, said: “It is vital that the industry comes together to deliver these recommendations to support farmers through these difficult times. We want to see genuine improvements, transparency and commitment to give farmers more confidence.” |