British produce an unaffordable luxury

‘BUY British’ is a slogan which is cropping up everywhere at the moment. Barely an hour goes past without the message reaching me in some form or another.

But much as the Victorian Temperance campaigners used to turn the brewers’ slogan ‘Beer is Best’ on its head by adding ‘left alone’ this one, too, should be qualified by adding ‘if you’ve good deep enough pockets’.

Because despite the NFU, Red Tractor and the AHDB pleading with the nation to support British farmers, the fact remains that we are raising a generation of children who will know little other than imported food.

Fine, farmers’ markets and farm shops appear to be as busy as ever. But the evidence I am getting suggests that even their normally dedicated patrons are starting to cut back because of the impact on their budgets of fuel and energy price rises.

And as for the ‘average’ family – i.e. the one which normally heads for a supermarket for food shopping – I really cannot believe that they are going to take much notice of anyone telling them to ‘Buy British’ because they are more than ever going to be motivated by price.

In fact, if one challenged an average family of four to live for a week on wholly British produce they would probably get as far as supper on Wednesday before the money ran out.

Is the average family, after all, going to choose a British chicken for £10 when they can get a Polish one for a fiver? Blow the budget on a small joint of British lamb when frozen New Zealand is available at twothirds of the price – or less?

The unforeseen – and unforeseeable – rise in the cost of living has thrown the retail food sector into sharp focus. Because not merely are fuel and energy prices piling the costs on virtually every item on the shelves they are also squeezing families’ spending power.

And what is making British produce comparatively more expensive than imports? Nothing more or less than the enormous cost of regulations piled on by Red Tractor and AHDB in the interests of convincing consumers food is safe and wholesome to eat – nodded through approvingly by the NFU, of course.

Naturally we have to provide the market with safe and wholesome food. But if the cost of complying with rigidly enforced regulatory regimes makes our food comparatively more expensive than our competitors’, then what’s the point?

It was fine to tout British farm produce as being infinitely superior to everyone else’s at time when £50 bought you a tank-full of fuel and you didn’t dread the gas bill dropping onto the doormat.

But at a time when the cost of everything appears to be increasing daily, British produce is starting to look like a luxury which for the vast majority of consumers is just unaffordable.

And we are only going to remedy that situation when we abandon schemes such as the Red Tractor and all the costly regulatory baggage that comes with it.

Given that most consumers still haven’t the faintest idea what it stands for, that really would be no great loss. But it could well deliver savings for consumers – and pave the way to healthier sales for producers.

The fact remains that we are raising a generation of children who will know little other than imported food