beating the supermarket

seraphina

Did anyone see that news article (I think it was on More 4 news) about fair trade produce? Basically it said that fair trade had really taken off but there was no way to ensure that UK-based producers benefited from fair trade. This really struck a chord - if people are willing to pay extra to ensure that farmers are paid a good quality price for a good quality product, why can we not have the same choice with UK produce?

In particular I would pay an extra few pence on a pint of milk to make sure that the farmer was getting a fair price.

I think the government should enforce compulsory price breakdowns, to be displayed at prominent positions on shelf edges (and not in tiny fonts) detailing where the cost price of each item gets to. It would only need to be done for the basics, such as milk, bread etc but it would then be easy to see exactly how much the supermarkets are creaming off and how much the poor old farmer gets.

calleyw

seraphina wrote:

Basically it said that fair trade had really taken off but there was no way to ensure that UK-based producers benefited from fair trade. This really struck a chord - if people are willing to pay extra to ensure that farmers are paid a good quality price for a good quality product, why can we not have the same choice with UK produce?

Been saying that for years. People seem to have this strange illusion that all farmers are rolling in money. Most get 18/19p a pint for milk. And we pay what 33p for a single pint. So where is the other 14/15p going. The supermarket will say not them.

I find this strange people whine about not having good quality food. But it costs to produce with out chemicals due to the lower yields. But people will not pay the extra.

But will for fairtrade coffee etc.

Yours


Calley

seraphina

calleyw - exactly!

If I could I would buy all my milk in M&S and Waitrose which AFAIK have a fair price policy for dairy but our nearest one of those is 10+ miles away and the petrol would be costly.

I could buy organic milk I guess but I'm not fussed about whether it's organic or not - I just want to know whether farmers are getting a good price or not!