When a 2kg bag of potatoes is priced at just 8p, the consumer may rejoice but something has gone terribly wrong. And yet, this is a reality in many UK supermarkets such as Asda, Aldi and Tesco who are offering rock-bottom prices on staple vegetables, often through loyalty schemes. These discounts are marketed as a win for consumers amid a cost-of-living crisis. But dig a little deeper, and it becomes clear that the real price is being paid by British farmers — and ultimately, all of society.
According to growers, these discounts are unsustainable and are indicative of a trend in which the price slashes seen typically around Christmas are now creeping into other parts of the year. The problem is that these prices don’t even come close to covering farmers’ production costs. Farmers are rightly alarmed that such pricing conditions are distorting public perception of food’s real value and threatening the very future of British agriculture.
The issue is raising the question of the power supermarket chains have and the social impact their actions create. Supermarkets have already priced local produce shops out of the market, and if the growers of produce are next, it’s a serious food security issue. As Tom Bradshaw, President of the National Farmers’ Union, put it, promotional campaigns may boost short-term sales, but they risk long-term harm by undermining investment and stability in the farming sector. If British growers can’t secure fair returns on their crops, the incentive or even ability to keep producing them disappears.
This is not merely a problem for rural Britain. In fact, the UK’s food security, already under pressure from global instability and climate change, hinges on a robust domestic farming industry. Causing further damage to a sector that is already facing pressure from several directions would only increase Britain’s dependence on foreign producers, with all the geopolitical, environmental, and logistical vulnerabilities that entails.
Blatant pressure in favour of Nutri-Score
There can be no doubt that access to affordable, healthy food is vital. But it must not come at the expense of those who grow it. It serves well to remember that supermarkets are profit-making corporations who, importantly, wield enormous power over public health, consumer habits, and rural economies. In slashing prices, they may hope to present themselves as champions of the people. But their decisions are often made with quarterly profit margins in mind, not the long-term resilience of the food system.
However, the UK is not the only country in which supermarkets are flexing their muscles. Across the channel in the EU, supermarkets engage in willful behaviour that affect producers and public policy alike. France is a case in point, where chains like Carrefour and Lidl are strong-arming suppliers to adopt the controversial Nutri-Score food labelling system — a system that the European Commission recently dropped from its agenda amid years of wide-spread criticism and a shift in political priorities, both domestic and geopolitical. This hasn’t stopped Carrefour from threatening to publicly name and shame suppliers who refuse to comply, regardless of ongoing scientific and political debate around the label’s merits. Supermarket chains in Germany, Romania Belgium and Denmark, including Albert Heijn, Leclerc and Føtex have followed suit.
What the Nutri-Score and pricing examples show is that Supermarkets are increasingly behaving like regulators rather than retailers. And when they act unilaterally, they bypass democratic debate and expert consensus. Whether it’s slashing prices below cost or enforcing contested health labels, the result is the same: producers are squeezed, consumers are manipulated, all beyond the normal bounds of accountability.
Power to the people?
The outsized influence of supermarkets on supply chains and, de facto, public policy arrangements means that elected government policy-makers need to start making serious decisions. Improved enforcement of fair trading rules could be a first step. The Groceries Code Adjudicator, which oversees supermarket-supplier relations in the UK, needs stronger teeth and perhaps a broader remit to address not just direct abuse, but market distortions caused by extreme pricing strategies.
Furthermore, transparency is always key. Supermarkets should be required to disclose the cost structures behind major promotions, including whether farmers are being fairly compensated. This could be done through clearer labelling or public reporting mechanisms. In that sense, it’s also evident that the consumer needs to be part of the conversation. If a sustainable, resilient food system is the goal, then every shopper must understand where fresh foods come from and what the cost in terms of labour and money involved in their production actually is. The illusion of the 8p potato needs to be ended.
Europe’s societies are in danger of forgetting what food is really worth. Supermarkets might have the power to set prices, but it’s up to society to set values. Supporting British farmers isn’t just a nostalgic nod to the countryside — it’s a commitment to food that nourishes, not just our wallets, but our future.
