Prince's farm
price talks The Prince of
Wales last night called
the heads of the major
supermarkets to a meeting
at Highgrove for talks on
their treatment of
farmers. Furious at the
plummeting prices farmers
are paid by supermarkets
making ever-increasing
profits, the Prince was
expected to castigate the
executives for exploiting
farmers and for not
sufficiently promoting
local foods. Prince Charles,
who runs a 1,800-acre
organic farm, was said to
be so incensed by
supermarkets'
"bullying" of
farmers that he insisted
the wives of each chief
executive attend the
dinner so they could hear
farmers' complaints first
hand. Among the guests
were Sir Terry Leahy, Sir
Peter Davis and Tony
DeNunzio, the heads of
Tesco, Sainsbury and Asda.
Senior executives from
Marks & Spencer and
Dalepak, a meat processing
firm, were also invited. Despite a new
code of conduct that was
meant to prevent
supermarkets using their
domination of grocery
retailing to drive down
prices, there is little
sign of a let-up for
farmers, who are forced to
sell their produce often
for less than the cost of
production or face being
blacklisted. The Prince's move
came as Government figures
showed that the foot and
mouth crisis led to the
largest exodus of farmers
since the Second World
War. The Agricultural
and Horticultural Census
showed that 15,000 farming
jobs were lost in England
in the year to June.
Figures for Scotland and
Wales remain to be
published. The census
found that 8,600 farmers
abandoned farming and
another 6,600 farm
workers' jobs were lost.
By
Robert Uhlig, Farming
Correspondent
(Filed: 16/11/2002)