Discussion
king arthur said:
wormburner said:
That is very simply put, but ignores the constant price wars between the supermarkets. It is fine for us to resent the supermarkets, but they make us as consumers richer.
The so called supermarket price war is mainly a product of marketing. As a recent BBC documentary pointed out, if there's a price war how come profits have increased at all four main supermarket chains in the last year?Regardless of any price war between themselves, profitability can be secured through better purchasing, greater online trade, and through conquesting more share-of-market from high street and mom-and-pops.
Since small retail and town centre retail is all-but-f
ked, yet we're all still alive, I think that's a reasonable guess.king arthur said:
wormburner said:
That is very simply put, but ignores the constant price wars between the supermarkets. It is fine for us to resent the supermarkets, but they make us as consumers richer.
The so called supermarket price war is mainly a product of marketing. As a recent BBC documentary pointed out, if there's a price war how come profits have increased at all four main supermarket chains in the last year?Twenty years ago we thought there were enough supermarkets, but now we have Aldi, Lidl and Netto as well as the big four, plus Iceland and numerous Spar type shops.
Milk is no different to any other commodity (a product where the price increases or decreases according to the quantity available) so if the price is able to fall, for whatever reason, then there is more available than there is demand to consume. The best thing we could all do is drink more milk. That will bring the price up in due course but I suspect overall UK consumption is well down compared to say 30 years ago. I wonder how much milk was consumed through the school milk programme? Probably kept a large part of the industry going and they lost that outlet at very short notice.
We are beef farmers but I wouldn't have much idea how to go about milk production and I suspect the dairy boys are the same in reverse so it's not so easy to change. It's like going from being a history teacher to being a french teacher: the jobs the same but you require a different pool of knowledge.
L.F.
We are beef farmers but I wouldn't have much idea how to go about milk production and I suspect the dairy boys are the same in reverse so it's not so easy to change. It's like going from being a history teacher to being a french teacher: the jobs the same but you require a different pool of knowledge.
L.F.
king arthur said:
The so called supermarket price war is mainly a product of marketing. As a recent BBC documentary pointed out, if there's a price war how come profits have increased at all four main supermarket chains in the last year?
Quite. Producer prices are low because farmers like farming and are willing to sell cheap. 
I can't speak for the UK but our experience here in New Zealand dairy farming has been transformed from a family run type industry to a much more industrial model. After Britain joined the EU in the 70's we where forced to abandon agricultural subsidisation in the 80's. However after this brief period of readjustment there was real growth in the industry, farmers adapted with bigger heard, more land and better management practises. The output of the industries lifted post-subsidisation and agriculture has really grown very well since and composes a larger part of the economy than back in the 80's before subsidies where removed. So for example subsidised agricultural product growth was about 1%, after those subsidies where pulled production grew at about 6% over the next 20 years.
I'm not particularly pro-capitalist but my advice to the UK and EU would be to get off the CAP gravy train at the next stop and let producers reform food production capability. After some difficult adjustment you may well find yourselves in a better position with food security and a more productive industry.
I'm not particularly pro-capitalist but my advice to the UK and EU would be to get off the CAP gravy train at the next stop and let producers reform food production capability. After some difficult adjustment you may well find yourselves in a better position with food security and a more productive industry.
Ozzie Osmond said:
Quite. Producer prices are low because farmers like farming and are willing to sell cheap.
Yes, I'm quite certain they merrily skip off down to the dairy twice a day with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside, knowing they're getting robbed everytime the tanker shows up.You make it sound like some kiddies' afternoon pasttime.......
speedy_thrills said:
I'm not particularly pro-capitalist but my advice to the UK and EU would be to get off the CAP gravy train at the next stop and let producers reform food production capability. After some difficult adjustment you may well find yourselves in a better position with food security and a more productive industry.
The Euro Juggernaut is coming regardless and the countryside is a different consideration in the U.K.1point7bar said:
speedy_thrills said:
I'm not particularly pro-capitalist but my advice to the UK and EU would be to get off the CAP gravy train at the next stop and let producers reform food production capability. After some difficult adjustment you may well find yourselves in a better position with food security and a more productive industry.
The Euro Juggernaut is coming regardless and the countryside is a different consideration in the U.K.
PJ S said:
Amateurish said:
I just checked, it's 44p a litre at Asda.
Nope, 52p/L is the cheapest on Asda, and that's the 2L containers which they're doing 2 for £2.Standard 2 pints (1.1L) are 89p
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