October 4, 2021 - 12:30pm
As everyone should have noticed by now, we’ve entered a period of global supply chain disruption which, when coupled with major long term trends like de-globalisation and climate change, means the smooth transnational economy we’ve become accustomed to is increasingly vulnerable. But centrist commentators seem curiously immune to noticing these trends, leading to much online mockery of the Conservative MP Chris Loder’s statement at the party conference:
Loder’s right, and his critics are wrong. Like just-in-time supply chains generally, the centralisation of the food supply through the supermarket system may be convenient to consumers when things are functioning “normally,” but they’re fragile in times of crisis, bad for farmers and bad for the environment. When ethical farming advocates like the excellent James Rebanks talk about shifting back to small-scale, sustainable, local food supply, what they’re advocating would look exactly like what Loder is calling for.
When the government abolished the Milk Marketing Board in 1994 — due to Irish pressure through the EU commission — the prices farmers obtained for their milk slumped as they were squeezed by supermarkets. Three quarters of Britain’s dairy farms were forced to close as they could no longer run a profit, and the stress and increased debt led to an epidemic of mental health crises and suicides among dairy farmers. When small farms close, their land is bought up by huge industrialised farming corporations, leading to far worse living conditions for the livestock, increased pollution, dependence on non sustainably-farmed feed imported through fragile supply chains, and a dramatic loss of biodiversity.
But as the farming magazine The Land noted back in 2017, Brexit opens up the possibility of government intervention in the food supply, particularly with milk, which is particularly vulnerable to volatile price fluctuations — unnoticed by consumers, but an existential worry to farmers, who bear the cost.
Indeed, the unsustainability of the current supermarket system has led to a boom in new “microdairies,” where small, sustainable farmers sell direct to the consumer, retaining the value from their labour that would otherwise be hoarded by the exploitative practices of the supermarkets. As the Sustainable Food Trust notes, microdairies “provide more income for farmers and local communities and less to the handful of supermarkets and milk processors that dominate the UK dairy sector,” and at the same time “give the public a fairly-priced, locally-produced carton of fresh milk.”
As has often been noted, under the old Milk Marketing Board system the government ensured farmers achieved a fair price for their milk, which was sold to dairies who distributed it to consumers with fleets of electric-powered vans in recyclable glass containers: the old system worked, and it should return.
I’ve argued here before that the food system needs a radical shake up: Britain needs many more small farms, which will have innumerable benefits for farmers, the environment, the regional economy and public health. Any Tory push to tip the scales back in farmers’ favour should be encouraged: it’s Loder’s notionally liberal critics who are on the wrong side of history, demanding the continuance of an outdated, unsustainable and exploitative system.
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SubscribeI do rather wonder whether the kind system that we’re supposed to return to now according to this article is capable of serving large populations such as that of the UK, France or Germany.
However, I honestly didn’t understand the frothing-at-the-mouth anger at Loder’s statements. Supply shortages and uncertainty aren’t fun, but, if you look beyond the present (hopefully short-term) discomfort and think about long-term change, then a good case can be made that this will lead to a much more equitable and sustainable way of farming, food supply etc.
It is very odd how the same people that clamour for a reduction in consumption to more sustainable levels are the same ones now clamouring for the continuation of the same, sick system that perpetuates it.
As I’ve observed elsewhere, I’ve thought many times over the past 18 months how ill the West is. We are now at the stage when, if we are not able to consume what we want, when we want, in volumes we don’t actually need, then there’s mass panic.
Here’s a thought: why – across the whole of the Western world – don’t supermarkets simply put out on the shelves what – going by past consumption data – is likely to actually be consumed? Just for a week or two to show people what’s actually needed and what goes to waste. At least 20% of each supermarket would be empty.
You forgot to mention the agro industry the supermarkets ‘support’ an industry that produces food that is of such poor quality…. no wonder the NHS cannot cope…
Nice idea, except that fresh food isn’t actually a big part of what at most supermarkets sell. Stand in your average supermarket & look at the amount of floor space that’s solely fresh food (meat, dairy & vegetables). In most, it’s a quarter or less. Excluding the areas that sell non food the bigger part is devoted to processed foods & unhealthy snacks & drinks. The reason? That’s where the big profits are.
I am in Chris Loder’s constituency in a small market town in Dorset and we have three outlets here for milk from the farm and I recognise we are fortunate. Like Chris suggests start small and build up and spread out. Whose to say these enterprising farmers might one day reach Chris’s urban critics. I have started my day for seventy years on two Weetabix and milk. Weetabix claim to be made with 100% British wheat though the same cannot be said of the company which I believe we let slip into Chinese hands though I hope I am wrong. For a change on a Sunday I have a boiled egg. Do I sound like a crackpot in this day and age or perhaps a throw back to a simpler time that we may be forced to embrace in the future.
Another interesting article – thanks Aris. After other snarky pieces on Loder’s comments it’s good to get a more thoughtful perspective on it.
Diversity of supply chains used to be considered a good thing, but better procurement through JIT and single source suppliers has been the vogue in larger organisations for some time now.
Have worked in such places where their preference was to deal only with the big suppliers, the downside being they eventually failed, contracts were re-tendered to the limited pool with the scale to do the job and when they failed too, it wasn’t unusual for the lot who failed first time to be brought back.
It sounds mad, but the difference in procurement rates between big and diverse was significant enough, to bleed through to the bottom line of the business and of course the bonuses for procurement managers.
So – diversity can bring increases to costs, but on the upside also greater security to the food chain.
Seems to me the UK has now squeezed the surplus capacity outside of everywhere other than MP’s, Whitehall, Media and left-wing activists. And that lot are neither use nor ornament. So where do we go from here?
Maybe there’s a few young South African farmers interested in bringing their knowledge and skills to the table?
Finally – I rather liked the article here “Can Britain Feed Itself?”, if you’re interested. https://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/articles/can-britain-feed-itself
“ Seems to me the UK has now squeezed the surplus capacity outside of everywhere other than MP’s, Whitehall, Media and left-wing activists.”
That is the comment of the year. Lots of metaphorical upticks.
I agree. 40 years of globalisation in one sentence, excellent.
Local, direct sales seem to be a growing trend in my very rural part of the UK, although not through the ‘village shop’ – those long since closed down. However, a farm near where I live has recently opened a milk vending machine in its farmyard, selling directly to the public, and I can watch the cows grazing if I’ve got time to spare (welfare standards there are high, because it’s a small, family farm). There are a few similar farm vending machines within a few miles, providing milk or milkshakes, direct from the farm, available 24/7 from some of them, with no huge cut taken by supermarkets and middle men and comparable prices. Greener too, especially if you take your own bottles.
Selling directly to the public is certainly a way for small dairy (and other) farms to keep their heads above water, and I’ve heard on the local grapevine that it is how some of them survived the supply chain disruption caused by lockdown (ie. those who formerly supplied hospitality). The system works well in a rural setting like mine, which is dominated by the dairy industry, but it’s not so practical in more arable areas of the country, where crop production is more profitable than dairy, and where large towns/cities require huge, regular supplies of commodities, which outstrip the production capacity of small farms.
The other problem is that we now have a culture that demands and expects every commodity to be available constantly. Many people go to supermarkets because they’re ‘easy’, so won’t go in search of those smaller, local suppliers, even when prices are comparable and quality is higher. And looking at a broader picture than just dairy, persuading people to return to eating more UK-produced seasonal foods, rather than imported, out-of-season produce, is not going to be easy.
Milk is sold on a farm here, just outside Cambridge. It isn’t cheap, but it a completely different substance to anything you can buy in a shop. Unpasteurised, a tiny herd, calves staying with the cow and sharing the milk. Creamy deliciousness.
I get milk delivered from Milk and More. Its not the same as in the old days when the Milkman would go door to door in his electric milk float, as I think he has a flatbed truck, but it is still in returnable glass pint bottles. It isn’t cheap at 81p a pint, and none of my neighbours use the service, but even though I’m definitely working class, I feel that any bloke who’s willing to get up in the middle of the night to make a living deserves to have some trade. I also get a loaf of bread, half a dozen eggs and a bottle of fruit juice weekly from him. He always delivers before 7.30am and it’s been the same man for at least 10 years. The service has recently gone online, which I resisted as long as I could, but I believe it is now possible to order up to 9pm for delivery the following morning. I’ve recently had a leaflet through my door from a new company called Modern Milkman which looks like a similar service, they’re offering glass pints of milk at 70p, but I will be staying loyal to my Milkman.
good on you! i wish i had service like that here where i live.
Interesting example to me, since I grew up on a small dairy farm in Australia, long since divided into even smaller hobby farms for urban refugees, and have ended up in a UK city, drinking hardly any milk.
If only we could’ve held on through another two decades of hard work and poverty, we’d be doing alright now.
The market for our milk through those years would have been export casein and other milk products, rather than liquid and yogurt on supermarket shelves.
I was amazed at the (relative to us) comfortable middle class lives subsidised modern farmers lead.
“Sustainable” isn’t the first word that springs to mind, but I continue to watch with interest from my own comfortable middle class townhouse.
Ah yes, the milkman . The good old days when the glass bottles were left on your doorstep at sometime during the day, after everyone had left the house, to be attacked by birds stealing the cream, knocked over by cats/ other deliveries/ kids ‘for a laugh’, conveniently signalling the emptiness of the house to the opportunistic burglar. The joy of finding that the milk had turned as it had been left in the sun on the van the day before. The delight of finding that you had been given full cream milk ‘ because we were out of skimmed’, and the necessity of checking the bill every week for errors ( always in favour of the dairy, funny that).
Thank you, thank you Tesco Express.
Yes… The good old days of damaged foil lids. Was it a relatively harmless bluetit? Or was it a magpie helping itself to a little cream dessert, after feasting on some rotting roadkill? A friend of mine ended up in hospital with a severe case of campylobacter when she guessed wrong.
“When ethical farming advocates like the excellent James Rebanks talk about shifting back to small-scale, sustainable, local food supply.”
In other words, increasingly indistinguishable bourgeois statists of left & right want food to be more expensive for people in the lower half on the economy.
here in america i would absolutely love to drink milk from a local dairy.
You mean we are supposed to eat only sprouts, cabbage, potatoes, swede and turnip from September to May?
In any case, I have always thought that the milk deliveries of today’s are solely for the middle classes with money to spare, the metropolitan elites. Why else would you pay more than double for something that is otherwise readily available?
People cannot even manage a few days without driving their car let alone not being able to get all their weekly junk food and chicken twizzles. Dairy farmers have a very difficult challenge in trying to make a profit and most milk sold in supermarkets is sold as a loss leader with people paying less than cost. Milk delivered in glass bottles tastes better, is fairly priced and is far better for the environment overall alongside the many other products they deliver.
You forgot the pickled
herringsustainable fish and salt beef.And the pig in the back yard, fed on scraps and taties and slaughtered every year, made into bacon to eke out the cabbage and potato diet of the farm labourer.
most modern houses , of course, hardly have room for the pigsty, let alone for the garden to grow the cabbage and potatoes.
“ You mean we are supposed to eat only sprouts, cabbage, potatoes, swede and turnip from September to May?“
Yes and no. I really like all those foods and find them comforting on winter evenings. Just not by themselves!
I have a friend who lives in northern Italy and have visited many times. Both independent retailers and supermarkets stock mostly food from the surrounding region. He did say that choice of veg is limited to what you describe in winter, but the cooking culture has recipes to make these foods enjoyable. You cannot buy fresh tomatoes and peppers all year round, but you do have canned or dried goods to work with and plenty of meat and cheese (not much seafood as its inland).
But there’s two key points: Italy has twice the land mass of Britain and isn’t as reliant on food imports (hardly, in fact); and their local food retailers open as people finish work, whereas ours close. If I could be saved the inconvenience of having to drive across town to a big concrete shed in the evening and do my shopping on the way home instead, I’d be all over it!
Andrea, if you’re the kind who’s bought the myth that we can have salad & strawberries all winter without impact elsewhere I’d suggest you google‘Europe’s dirty little secret’ that where your tasty veg & salad are mostly coming from all winter. Oh & parts of Kenya too, where the workers are ‘well paid on a £1 a day