Edinburgh, August 7
Letter from Scotland 8 – sign up to receive them here
How much of what food costs to produce should the consumer pay?
The European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy delivers high-quality food at affordable prices to millions. It also supports small food producers – which has the effect of maintaining rural communities.
By the time it joined the EU, the UK had already lost many small farms and moved towards agri-business – the CAP was much derided by right-wingers in the UK who saw it as sending money to the rich and creating too much cheap food.
But Scotland still has more small crofters and growers than England, who depend on subsidies. Just as we fund universities to produce graduates, shouldn’t we support farmers to produce high-quality food?
Where is the food system in the UK headed? Is the CAP replacement subsidy scheme being designed with Scotland’s needs in mind? Where is the public debate about this?
Access to food doesn’t always mean nutritious food
When we lived in the US, I found it shocking how expensive fruit and vegetables were. A tomato in the supermarket cost around $2 – whereas you could buy a burger from McDonald’s for $1. The agri-business model delivers cheap meat, wheat, canola oil, and so on. Certain products are subsidised – such as rice fortified with vitamins – but fresh produce is unaffordable for many.
In central Boston, there was a fruit and veg market once a week where traders sold off at very cheap prices all the ripe produce that the supermarkets no longer wished to display. It was a lively place popular with the sort of people who wanted to buy and cook over-ripe produce that day. But in general, there are many in the US who have access to food – but not to the kind of nutritious, healthy food that we take for granted.
Before Britain joined the EU, we ate very differently. We didn’t eat as much fresh fruit and veg as we do now. You couldn’t buy a bag of easy peelers, rocket leaves, or mixed peppers for a couple of pounds. Fifty years ago, most people spent about half their income on food – now it is less than ten percent.
It seems that due to a combination of things including Brexit – and how reckless and cruel was it to push that through during the pandemic? – Covid, inflation which may be related to quantitative easing in the US, climate change-related extreme weather events – there are food price increases on the horizon.
At the same time, the universal credit uplift is about to be removed and that will push many more people into food poverty and food insecurity.
What can Scotland do to build resilience? Can we do more to encourage urban agriculture? In Detroit in the US, abandoned areas of wasteground in the dilapidated city have been turned into urban farms – the ‘agrihood’ where local people grow food and also make preserves such as hot sauces and jams to sell.
Supermarkets in the UK wield a massive amount of power
Supermarkets in the UK control the vast majority of the food distribution network. That is part of what makes food cheap and available – but we are very reliant on them. We expect market forces in the shape of supermarkets to ensure fresh food gets to Barra and Orkney. They have done that so far – but whose fault would it be if that breaks down and there is no plan B?
Supermarkets operate in a very competitive market and their just-in-time supply chains disincentivise holding stockpiles for contingencies,” said Dominic Duckett, social risk reasearcher at the James Hutton Institute.
They are also ruthless about passing cost increases on to growers and suppliers which forces them to concentrate on specific crops and varieties. It will also potentially force more farmers out of business if that can’t compete with cheap imports – such as beef from the US.
It is very difficult for farmers to sell their produce locally. For example, there is no longer a network of local abattoirs. Orkney lamb is a protected category but nobody can produce it because there is no abattoir there. There is no longer one serving farmers in Aberdeenshire or Perthshire.
Local meat produced in small abattoirs close to farms is going to be more expensive than the supermarket offer – unless it is subsidised. The big meat processing plants are struggling to get staff – working conditions and welfare standards are low. Another feature is that they are designed to deal with very specific sized animals so if they shut down for a few weeks, the animals become too big to be slaughtered.
Many fruit and vegetable growers have already closed because margins are tight. Only 30 years ago, Scotland grew thousands of tonnes of tomatoes in the Clyde Valley – and was a net exporter. But supermarkets stopped preferring local producers and found cheaper imports – and the Clyde Valley tomato growers went under, the last one folding in 2015.
The same goes for much artisanal food production. Many parts of the Scottish countryside have small populations – they are dependent on tourism. It is not easy to maintain a food business all year round. Nurturing shorter supply chains would give more resilience but require more support.
“We couldn’t produce a zero-miles meal in Aberdeen”
Dominic Duckett, a specialist in social risk at the James Hutton Institute, produced a report looking at ‘Scenarios for UK Food and Nutrition Security in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic’
He identified some weaknesses such as long supply chains. On a delegation to Evora in Portugal, Duckett and colleagues were offered a zero miles meal -” We couldn’t do that in Aberdeen – there is no abattoir so there is no local meat production, there is no independent greengrocer in Aberdeen selling local produce – at the market here they sell mobile phone cases made in China not local fruit and vegetables.”
“I would love to see a wholesale fruit and veg market at Leith docks”
James Welby is an independent greengrocer – one of a handful left in Edinburgh. He said he would love to see a fruit and veg market at Leith docks “We could cut out the middleman – there are so many middlemen on the journey the produce takes to get here when it comes via London”.
Some of the reason for gaps and overripe produce in the fruit and veg displays in many supermarkets is the added complexity and delay being caused by Brexit – and that is likely to get worse when new rules come in in October and January.
“I would advise people not to do a weekly shop at the moment – just buy fruit and vegetables as close as possible to when you want to eat it – it is in cold storage for longer and a lot of it is not Class One’ Welby said.
Food is about more than survival – it is a way people connect to each other and to nature
Recently Boris Johnson said that in his view “leveling up” starts with tackling crime. At the James Hutton Institute, Duckett said that they were concerned that there is no policy related to the UK government slogan-heavy levelling up agenda that addresses food poverty and insecurity. Surely that is a better place to start?
Farmer and MSP Jm Fairlie MSP set up a farmer’s market in Perthshire – “I used to do the farmers market every week, and I would take my kids and people saw them grow up, I got to know my customers and I saw their kids. We all need food to survive, but it is about more than survival, food connects people.”
If Scotland is to build a future as an independent country where people can have a better life and where the social division between rich and poor is not as extreme as it is in England or the US, that should starts with access to food and nutrition.