Tesco to introduce fulfilment fees

[Humble Village Farmer]

The food programme on yesterday was about the current state of food supply.

The Food Programme - A Food Rethink: Lessons from a Food Shortage - A Food Rethink: Lessons from a Food Shortage - BBC Sounds

From energy to seasonality, Dan Saladino explores ideas prompted by supermarket shortages.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Batty]

I've heard exactly the same. The processor involved being a Tesco supplier and the processor's name beginning in C and ending in ranswick. A production subsidiary of that processor has pretty much ruined me financially too.

That’s the one.

 

[Dave645]

UK farming should already be added to the fair trade scheme initiative's, as it seems the cost of production is already totally ignored by retailers/supermarkets.

the passing on of costs they have created with online selling seems like the next step to keep retail insulated from the pressures of the food chain that farmers feel everyday, at what point do they take ownership of the food they sell, from how I understand it, its only after 30 days from its sale date, when refunds and returns are not an option only then do they pay the supplier, so they take no risk. for any product defects unsold stock or returns, they have stacked the deck to avoid costs and pushed it down the line where the processor and ultimately primary producers carry the costs.

This is not just a UK problem its a world wide one, primary producers are at the mercy of commodity brokers setting prices based on there whims and world wide prices that don't resemble the cost base that high welfare, assured produce requires in the UK, the farmer gets paid only after the costs of any middle men that act as processers, distribution, or packaging, are covered if this now includes a new 'fulfilment fee' its just the latest in a long line of changes they have introduced to pass cost down and away from retail, and at no point is anyone bothered what the farmer is getting as long as it leaves them with a profit, what the farmer gets is his lookout, because we are hundreds of thousands of farms of all sizes, they just think if one cannot supply it someone else will, they use the hammer of the globule supply chain price and its availability to squash UK farm gate prices down to match them, the reality is the majority of the time its on the back of another farmer taking below the cost of production prices for there produce somewhere else in the world.

fare trade food and far more stringent packaging laws on what can have a union jack placed on its packaging, are needed, often the UK shopper is happy to support the UK farmer, but under the current rules that's next to impossible to do.
Your just as likely to be buying EU meat with a union jack on its packaging label as truly British.

retail, talk the talk, about green and sustainable but the reality is price is king, the rest is just a great marketing scheme to let the consumer believe they are supporting those things when shopping with them.
What's more sustainable than produce, produced in the UK, by UK farmers at a sustainable price, under UK law and hygiene rules, in high welfare systems, with the shortest food miles possible.

 

[Suffolk Serf]

There has been a review into the pigmeat supply chain, conducted by DEFRA. The eagerly awaited report has been sitting with the minister for rather too long. A DEFRA bod said back in January that it was about to be released. I suspect that there might be something in there not to everyone's liking.

 

[Birdlipper]

And a dairy sector investigation too. Minister Spencer referenced both at the NFU conference; ‘publication shortly’. Radio silence ever since

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

Was told that some of the pig producers that were campaigning on telly during the crisis with pigs backlogged on farms were delisted by at least one processor! Also heard that one processor used info on movement info to abattoir to approach third party growers to fatten for there in house pig production company rather than there existing independent farmer.

Can you explain this to the journalist so she can get some idea of how farmers are treated.

It's hard for normal people in other industries to comprehend just how costs are loaded onto and freebies are taken from farmers in a casual but systematic fashion.

You try telling that to young people today and they won't believe you.

 

[topground]

How long before there is no UK poultry meat on the shelves. Are sheds being restocked or left empty rather than lose money, anyone have any first hand information?
@Isabella_fish

 

[Cowlife]

I thought it was waitrose.. Perhaps they both did it?

I did a harvest on a former coop farm in Buntingford

 

[Isabella_fish]

For those interested in the NFU's response:

Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers Union, said: “This move from Tesco is a stark demonstration of the lack of fairness within the supply chain. At a time when crippling production costs mean many farmers and growers can’t afford to continue producing food at scale, resulting in supermarket shortages of fruit, salads and eggs, the food industry desperately needs fairness and collaboration, not further erosion of trust.

“Given Tesco’s approach of trying to railroad suppliers, giving only a few days’ notice, it’s doubly shocking to see the suggestion of repercussions should suppliers not agree to the fee. Many outside of grocery retail might be alarmed at a breach of business trust like this and the NFU has raised the issue with the Grocery Code Adjudicator to investigate whether it breaches the Grocery Supplier Code of Practice.”

 

[MrNoo]

Ironic when Minette is happy to disadvantage uk producers relative to imports all day long with her beloved Red Tractor scheme (Cartel) I cannot market my grains without it unless I want a £15/t deduction. Yet she bleats on and on about costs for farmers. My RT costs were around £4200/year for zero premium. I don't understand how she sleeps at night.
NFU have a foot in both camps, mainly the supermarkets, as witnessed by their cosy award bash sponsorship etc etc And lets face it she hardly came out supporting producers after the recent Booths supermarket cock up, instead stating "we will learn from it" like it was the producers fault.
I wouldn't trust a word that woman says, sooner she is out the better for UK Agg.

 

[Dave645]

https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...of-practice/groceries-supply-code-of-practice

it would seem to me well drawn contracts can avoid most of these rules, and that a system that created industry wide standard contracts, with retailers could protect the farmer from the majority of the loopholes they employ.
the very fact we are fragmented and they deal with individual farms gives them free rain to get around most of the protections these codes of practice suggest, as nearly every rule has a clause if the contract allows for this. . . you signed a bad contract. . .
if retail were forced into a national contract system that was balanced for both them and the suppliers, then it would be a step forward, especially if they include fair trade clauses.

 

[Ashtree]

If Mr. Tesco spent an hour looking at a few different threads on TFF, he would scratch his head, and deduce that farmers are a curious lot.

This thread for example bemoans the costs of farming, and the strangle hold of Tesco et al, which prevents farmers from getting compensation for rising costs.
Toddle over to “Brexit is destroying Britain“, where you will note dozens of posts, declaring things have never been so good for farming, due to record farm gate prices.
Farmers really are a hoot….

 

[Tarw Coch]

Anyone who dares to speak out against it will be dumped as a supplier.

It certainly is or at least as in a Tesco contract that no farmer was to bring Tesco into disrepute, on one hand that sounds fair enough but it could be interpreted in different ways……….anyway Tesco wanted it to.

 

[PostHarvest]

The Coop used to own a group of dairy farms near Leicester, My uncle was their resident vet for a while. They also had some farms and a group grain store near to Coldstream. It was falling to pieces when I last visited it due to lack of maintenance. I understand that it was sold off soon after.

 

[andybk]

If Mr. Tesco spent an hour looking at a few different threads on TFF, he would scratch his head, and deduce that farmers are a curious lot.

This thread for example bemoans the costs of farming, and the strangle hold of Tesco et al, which prevents farmers from getting compensation for rising costs.
Toddle over to “Brexit is destroying Britain“, where you will note dozens of posts, declaring things have never been so good for farming, due to record farm gate prices.
Farmers really are a hoot….

very sector specific though , beef and arable utterly fantastic , pigs , poultry and lamb , very poor

 

[Tarw Coch]

If Mr. Tesco spent an hour looking at a few different threads on TFF, he would scratch his head, and deduce that farmers are a curious lot.

This thread for example bemoans the costs of farming, and the strangle hold of Tesco et al, which prevents farmers from getting compensation for rising costs.
Toddle over to “Brexit is destroying Britain“, where you will note dozens of posts, declaring things have never been so good for farming, due to record farm gate prices.
Farmers really are a hoot….

I don’t recall you making such a post,

 

[delilah]

The supermarkets are at each others throats so not really a cartel.

But I understand what you mean.

Have a look at the supermarkets signed up to those documents in #21 . More have been brought on board since. They know that they can't have any member of the cartel breaking rank if they are to pull it off.

Then, if you're wondering why WWF are so keen on getting the primary producer to carry the can, see who is pulling the strings:

https://www.wwf.org.uk/who-we-are/t...ighted in the,trustee of the Leverhulme Trust.

 

[delilah]

i doubt if asked for comment the NFU will have anything bad to say about their supermarket friends

@Isabella_fish

Dave Lewis
Terry Jones
Tim Rycroft

Three enemies of UK agriculture. Join the dots. Find out how often they meet. Talk to people who know them. Hack their emails.

As said up thread, you can't look at 'fulfillment' without digging down into why our food system has ended up as it is, and how blaming farmers for environmental damage is being used as a smoke screen for corporate control of society.

 

[J 1177]

Except they don't control the supply. We do. We have more power than you realise. We're just not organised.

Sadly we dont have a union YET that can fully repesent us the union we have got conspires against us that makes it harder to cooperate together

 

[delilah]

“This move from Tesco is a stark demonstration of the lack of fairness within the supply chain.

"It's not fair"

The constant line from the NFU. The cartel allow them to say that, precisely because it means naff all.

the NFU has raised the issue with the Grocery Code Adjudicator to investigate whether it breaches the Grocery Supplier Code of Practice.”

The NFU know full well that the adjudicator is a chocolate tea pot. Go find anything that has ever come out of a referral to them. Again, the NFU are allowed by the cartel to say this precisely because it is meaningless. The NFU exist to make soothing noises at the appropriate moment. Not on our behalf, but on behalf of the cartel.