UK supermarkets have been accused of being “anti British farmers” and carrying out “murky economic practices” by a Conservative MEP.
The member of the European Parliament’s agricultural and rural affairs committee, Struan Stevenson, warned that unless prices for meat, poultry and dairy products increase, the industry could be under threat.
But, The British Retail Consortium hit back, describing Mr Stevenson’s comments as “seriously misguided”.
The MEP stated that around 500 dairy producers had been put out of business due to the low prices supermarkets have been paying dairy farmers for milk in recent years.
Stevenson said: “Until quite recently, of the 27 EU Member States, only Slovakia, Estonia, Hungary and Lithuania had lower milk prices than the UK. The result has been that in the last five years in my constituency, Scotland has lost around 500 dairy farmers .”
The MEP added that Asda was largely to blame, because of their decision to reduce payments to poultry farmers due to a price war with rival supermarkets .
“This is simply outrageous,” he added. “They are acting in a blatantly anti farmer way.”
A spokesman for the British Retail Consortium responded: “Struan Stevenson is seriously misguided. British supermarkets are huge supporters of farmers .”
“They are, and will continue to be, UK agriculture’s biggest customer. All the milk sold in UK supermarkets comes from UK farmers and 75% of the meat, with imports used mainly to make up seasonal shortfalls.”
He added: “Average farm incomes are actually rising and world milk prices are rising as global demand, especially from the Far East, goes up.
“That will benefit some farmers and supermarkets are increasingly working directly with groups of suppliers to ensure more of what customers pay gets through to them.”
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