Fair Trade products have become popular and an easy way of helping us shop ethically. And as we know those who benefit are some of the poorest people on earth in developing countries. But should we be extending the Fair Trade concept to include UK farmers?

On Tuesday I highlighted the way imperial power has shifted to multi-national companies to the extent that they can ignore the demands of nation-states. Today I want follow-up that thought with some details about the buying power of our large supermarkets. We may not be able to afford to buy our groceries elsewhere but it’s still worth knowing that the cost of relatively cheap food is being paid for by the producers.

Last year an important report was published by the National Farmers Union into milk and dairy product prices in the UK. (Read the full report here.) Its main headline was that while dairy products are more expensive in the shops, the price increases have not been passed on to the producers – the farmer. Figures suggest that while dairy products have increased to the equivalent of 3.1 pence per litre of milk, the farmer has only seen an increase of 1.4p/litre.

With the larger supermarkets dominating the grocery market (70% share of the market in the UK) it is very difficult for producers and processors to sell their products elsewhere. The supermarkets have become all-powerful. And it seems that this power is not being well used. In November last year the president of the NFU, Peter Kendall, accused the supermarkets of forcing processors to sign confidentiality agreements so that details of their negotiations are kept away from public scrutiny. He also accused them of ‘creating a climate of fear in the dairy sector’. If true, it seems our leading retailers could do with a shot of up-side-down kingdom values.

The effect of this near-monopoly, of course, is that smaller farms are being forced out of business as they cannot compete in such an unfair environment. And the losing of small family farms has had a significant effect on rural communities up and down the country. This would suggest that imperial power isn’t seen in nation-states.

Any thoughts?


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