“This isn’t to say that farmers accept that there needs to be higher prices at the shelf edge,” Tom explains.
There have been media reports this morning that the Treasury has asked retailers to freeze price rises on certain products in exchange for an easing of packaging policies and a potential delay to rule changes around healthy food.
Treasury Secretary Dan Tomlinson told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme that there are no plans to introduce a mandatory price cap on food from the Westminster government.
In a video message to members, Tom expresses concerns about the “squeezed middle” – that is the huge price rises farmers have experienced across red diesel, fertiliser and energy as a result of the effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
“As farmers, we’re seeing hugely inflated costs of production [...] we cannot absorb these costs at a farm level and continue to run profitable farming and growing businesses.”
He said members had been “very vociferous about the concern that this means that there will be lower farm gate prices”.
“We all need a functioning, thriving supply chain so that farmers can get fair returns for the risks that we are taking and consumers can get access to affordable British product, not just now but in the long-term.”
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