- Location
- Exeter, Devon
Is it about what we want or what the customer wants? Not always the same thing.
A petition worth signing I think.
- Thread starter Dan Powell
- Start date
Cheap and convenient. I don't think we have a problem with that.
- Location
- Exeter, Devon
But as cheap and convenient as a supermarket? I like the idea but am struggling to see how it can happen.
Was in town yesterday, there was a chap selling fruit where they do that thing where every punnet is £1 rather than having to weigh each purchase. It looked pretty cheap to me.
Is Guy's petition calling for the cartel to charge the public more for their fruit and veg ? If he is I must have missed it.
edit: convenient. Why does buying fruit and veg have to be made inconvenient in order to add diversity to the food system ?
- Location
- Exeter, Devon
Supermarkets provide free parking, town centres don’t. Supermarkets provide everything a shopper thinks they want under one roof, individual sellers don’t, even as part of an “old fashioned” market.
Yesterday we paid around £450 for a bullock to be killed, cut and vac packed (including some beef sausages), next week we’ll be paying £50 for a lamb to be killed, cut and vac packed, both at a small local independent abattoir. A supermarket won’t. We’ll sell what we can fresh this weekend, then it will have to be frozen, a supermarket won’t.
I want direct sales “from farm to fork” to work as much if not more than anyone does - my future livelihood depends on it, but unless you can tell me in very clear and concise terms how we can compete with the mass sellers, you’re doing no more for me than Guy is.
Yesterday we paid around £450 for a bullock to be killed, cut and vac packed (including some beef sausages), next week we’ll be paying £50 for a lamb to be killed, cut and vac packed, both at a small local independent abattoir. A supermarket won’t. We’ll sell what we can fresh this weekend, then it will have to be frozen, a supermarket won’t.
I want direct sales “from farm to fork” to work as much if not more than anyone does - my future livelihood depends on it, but unless you can tell me in very clear and concise terms how we can compete with the mass sellers, you’re doing no more for me than Guy is.
You've used the word 'supermarket' four times there. What do you mean by 'supermarket' ? Unless we are working to the same definitions, we can't have a constructive discussion to find a meaningful way forward.
(As an aside it's interesting to see that our abattoir charges are pretty much identical, just paid £937 for two bullocks. Maybe there's a small abattoir cartel
).
- Location
- Exeter, Devon
Fair point, there must be thousands of definitions for the term “supermarket“.You've used the word 'supermarket' four times there. What do you mean by 'supermarket' ? Unless we are working to the same definitions, we can't have a constructive discussion to find a meaningful way forward.
(As an aside it's interesting to see that our abattoir charges are pretty much identical, just paid £937 for two bullocks. Maybe there's a small abattoir cartel
I have only come across two.
Supermarket: A large building with adjacent car parking where you can do your weekly shop.
Supermarket: A business responsible for x% of food retailing.
There have been many thousands of posts on here from farmers moaning about 'supermarkets'. Which definition would be most relevant to the nature of their complaints ?
- Location
- Exeter, Devon
Combine your 2 definitions and you’re pretty much there. Perhaps a little less pedantism might lead to a more constructive dialogue?
It's not, remotely, pedantic. Without agreement on what it is everyone is moaning about, we can't hope to find a way forward.
- Location
- Exeter, Devon
Fine, life is too short. I’m off to pick kale.
ollie989898
Member
I'm glad you mentioned this.
I hate going to town these days. I never have any shrapnel in my pocket to pay the parking and it's a pita to find a barber that actually does walk ins. The traffic in some places can be a bar-steward as well. We don't normally ever go there. We use an out of town shopping centre to buy cat litter and cat food on the cheap. The rest is delivered by Tescopoly because the little money spent on the delivery charge is more than offset by the fact we don't impulse buy carp when entering the shop.
I'd like to hear some alternative solutions.
Thoughts please @delilah and others?
Perhaps the discounters (Aldi, Lidl) shaking up supermarket sector is a good thing, as more choice widens the middle of the "egg timer".
One problem is they are very price-focused.
What other options are there?
Perhaps a direct-selling platform, like Amazon for local produce?
Anything that adds diversity to the food system. Physical retail space, online is clearly the growth area, public sector procurement is a biggy.
Before that though, it comes down to industry buy-in. Does agriculture wish to see diversity in the food chain ? The NFU patently don't, they actively support consolidation. The BFU probably does support diversity (Red Tractor is only a thing due to consolidation) but it hasn't had chance to pause for breath and think about it yet.
What the hell is wrong with everybody ? There has just been a chap from the British Berry Association on the radio, saying that 80% of members see no future. He reeled off a load of statistics on lack of planting, cost of establishment, price received being lower than cost of production. He said the cartel need to be very concerned at all this. Why should they be very concerned ? The cartel will get their berries from the other 20%. Market share is the root of all evil. It's almost as if people don't understand.
- Location
- Exeter, Devon
Despite @delilah ‘s negativity, the Riverford petition has now secured a meeting between EFRA and Guy Watson as well as a debate in parliament on January 22nd. Time to rally our MP’s?
getfairaboutfarming.co.uk
Save British family farms
We're on a mission to make supermarkets get fair about farming, and protect the future of British food.
getfairaboutfarming.co.uk
Despite @delilah ‘s negativity, the Riverford petition has now secured a meeting between EFRA and Guy Watson as well as a debate in parliament on January 22nd. Time to rally our MP’s?
Save British family farms
We're on a mission to make supermarkets get fair about farming, and protect the future of British food.
I never said it wouldn't get lots of signatures.
I said it is an utterly pointless exercise.
This meeting with EFRA, what is Guy going to ask for ? A fair deal from Tesco for carrot growers. How many carrot growers in the UK is that going to help ?
Always happy to badger my MP. He has been very supportive over the issue of small abattoirs. Because he has had it explained to him why we need more, not less, abattoirs.
What would you like us to tell our MP's ? Specifically.
Definition of Cartel:
an association of manufacturers or suppliers with the purpose of maintaining prices at a high level and restricting competition.
"the Colombian drug cartels"
So, I assume by cartel, you mean purchasers (supermarkets?), whose job it is to buy and sell goods and make a profit.
If a supermarket pays more for berries, then they probably will charge a little more.
Then shoppers will go elsewhere and buy cheaper.
So... Are the shoppers the real "cartel"?