British farmers have accused the big six supermarkets of “farmwashing” in a new campaign aimed at ending “exploitation” of farmers.

Led by Riverford founder Guy Singh-Watson, the ‘Farmers Against farmwashing’ campaign calls on the big grocery retailers to stop their “misleading farmwashing practices”.

Joined by TV presenter Jimmy Doherty and 11 cross-party MPs, an open letter has been addressed to the CEOs of the UK’s leading supermarkets – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl.

Among other accusations, the campaign claims major supermarkets use fake farm brands and the union jack flag in their branding to mislead shoppers into thinking their products come from “quaint British family farms”.

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Yet the campaigners argue that much of this food is actually imported from overseas of industrial style farms, leading to the decline of British farming.

Singh-Watson said: “British farming is at a breaking point. The public cares deeply about where their food comes from, the supermarkets know this and they are using that trust to steal farmer stories and to hoodwink shoppers into thinking they are buying from those small-scale, traditional British farms.

“Supermarkets must stop exploiting farmers and start supporting them. If we want a future where our food system is resilient, our landscapes are preserved, and our farmers are treated fairly, we need more honesty and decency in the supply chain.

“The British public has shown they care and would pay a little more if they knew it supported better farming. It’s time supermarkets and the government listened.”

The campaign follows in the wake of a series of revelations about supermarket’s use of own-brand ‘fake farms’ ranges.

In 2017, Tesco, Aldi, Asda and Lidl were accused of using “fake farm” branding on their own-brand meat products and being “disingenuous” towards consumers.