Farmers have been left outraged as Sainsbury’s, among other UK supermarkets, has discounted the price of potatoes in the run up to Christmas.
At the Big 4 grocer, British white potatoes are on sale at 19p for a 2.5kg pack, while Aldi and Lidl launched 19p deals across a range of vegetables and Iceland rolled out its 1p sale across fresh and frozen vegetables today, (21 December).
As a result of the price drops, farmers and consumers on Twitter are fearing this will reduce the value of vegetables, while growers deal with added inflationary pressures, according to reporting by Farming Guardian.
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Commenting on Sainsbury’s potato price slash, farmer Gary Harrison Tweeted: “It’s disgusting what they do every lead up to Christmas, selling veg at less than the cost of production. How can farm shops/farms compete?”
Not surprising no one is making much money from potatoes when @sainsburys is selling them so cheaply! @ProvenancePots @NFUtweets @PotatoHouseUK #saveourspuds pic.twitter.com/WGo1kURaEO
— Cedric Porter (@CedricP) December 19, 2022
While we’re at it @sainsburys selling potatoes at 1/3 cost of production, before they have been packed and delivered. What sort of message does that send to the consumer about the value of uk agriculture? https://t.co/aet4jxrlB6
— Robert Golland (@RobertGolland1) December 19, 2022
“To help customers this Christmas, we have set aside over £15 million to specifically ensure people will find even more amazing prices on festive favourites and traditional treats… Customers can be reassured they will not be paying more for their traditional roast dinner despite current levels of inflation,” a spokesperson for Sainsbury’s told Farmers Guardian.
“We have also been working closely with our suppliers and farmers to help them navigate inflationary pressures and to ensure we can maintain strong availability – providing financial support and working capital where really needed.”
This comes as a new report by food and farming charity Sustain earlier this month found that UK farmers are often left with less than 1p on produce and see less than 1% of the profit.
Sustain head of farming, Vicki Hird said: “It is astonishing how little of the money we pay for our food ends up in the hands of the farmers and growers.
”If we’re to give our farmers the chance to change how we produce food, they need to keep more of the value so they can invest and use new approaches. We should not let intermediaries and food buyers hold all the bargaining chips.”
