Rising costs now taking a toll on our primary food producers

THE cost of living crisis takes a turn for the worse today as the energy price cap jumps, pushing energy bills up to unprecedented levels. And the crisis was made worse by the fact that many energy company websites crashed as millions of consumers tried to register their gas and electricity meter readings on the last day of March, in advance of the new tariffs.

It has also become even clearer today that it is not only consumers bearing the brunt of soaring inflation. Two food producing sectors – the egg industry and fishermen – warned that without a major price hike for their produce or some targeted support from the government, their futures were in peril. And while, most of the time, it is reasonable to let market forces play out in these situations, when the crisis is so widespread and takes in so many aspects of the cost of living, a different approach needs to be considered.

In Shetland, fisherman have warned rising fuel prices could force them to tie up their boats. While Shetland is about as far from the Westcountry as you can travel in Britain, the problem will be one felt very close to home. Soaring fuel costs are affecting South West fishermen in just the same way. The problems being felt off Scotland are surely being felt in the ports and harbours of Devon and Cornwall too.

And if primary producers like fishermen decide they can no longer make their businesses pay, the losers are not just the fishermen but their customers and, ultimately, the ability of the nation to keep on feeding its citizens.

In a similar way, egg producers here in the Westcountry are warning that without a sizeable hike in the price consumers pay for a dozen eggs, they will be going out of business.

Tom Pope, from Somerset, has only been in free range egg production for six months and says the situation is dire.

“The feed price alone increasing by £100 per tonne adds 20p to the cost of producing a dozen eggs on the farm, and every consumer will have heard about the energy price rises that are about to hit,” he tells the Western Morning News today.

“For us, that means our energy bill will increase 200% on the current deal we have, leaving us with £40,000 to pay.”

That’s an unsustainable situation. And while passing on those costs to the consumer looks like a solution, some consumers are now so stretched they won’t be able to meet the extra cost. That drives egg producers out of business.

There are many other sectors, often working in essential areas of production like food and energy, who are in the same boat. Farmers have already warned they may cut back on their production this year to reduce input costs.

It looks more and more as if the measures so far announced by the government to cushion the cost of living blow are simply too little. The Chancellor is right – he can’t sort every problem.

But a strategy that ensures vital supplies are protected now needs to be put in place.