Are Supermarkets getting too GREEDY

[kazwencol]

HI, i just joined this site today and after reading about a topic on supermarkets, i decided to have my say on the subject. Everything has just got so expensive. that i have found it alot cheaper to shop in the asian shops. when you but say fruit from a supermarket it is always under ripe and eventually never ripens and then ends up in the bin. Which i hate as i do not like to waste food. The other day i went to a asian shop to get 2 lamb chops and 1 red pepper and ( wait for it ) the chops cost 66p and they had all the fat trimmed off also. the red pepper was 30p. I know that mums dont have much time on there hands but shopping around realy does pay off.Markets are much cheaper too than supermarkets. I think the supermarkets make a huge profit out of us....

Oh dear wish you better kaz. Have you tried the best quality echinacea you can buy, it works if you take enough!!

Oh dear I've killed the thread anybody there??

Hi yous two!! I thought that the thread had gone and I've not been on for a few days. Sorry you've been poorly kaz and hope you'll be better soon. Interested in your echinacea ppea - wonder if it will do me any good. Infact have just come on here to post about my 'everlasting tickly cough' which I've had for over 2 months now and am really 'hacked off' with it!!

Hi fifi yes echinacea is brill for everything my mum and i always get the tickly cough after having dairy (i don't usually eat it so i can tell).

hi pp,
farm shop which I have tried is very time consuming, you never have in enough perishables- my offer to the customer of having a "fresh" vegetable was never taken up, as those cut maybe two hours earlier were definitely dead, and the "fresh" one was still growing and waiting to be cut.
Farmers markets are a farce, standing about all day- the Italian method excellent, the farmer arrives at the market between 0600 and opening time of 0700, sells for one hour and then goes and does some more work on the farm in the rest of the day. Ideal system, except for the conveniance shopper, who maybe does not want fresh.

hi Fifichief,
how we view our role can sometimes put us at oddswith mainstream economics, as in product for exchange.
There is a paternalistic assuption that while other factors of production need to be economised (profit), the time and energy of the farmer needn't be, so the unrelenting toil in the fields and cowshed is fine, as long as it is done by someone else.
A lawyer may charge £250 an hour, which he can exchange for one years worth of wheat to feed himself.
To a farmer this seems a missapportionment

Totally agree with you ukfarmer. Ive be there done that sold meat off the farm which was the premium longhorn side with pork and lamb. We reckon that to justify keeping the animals, staff etc I needed to take a min £2000 per week on sales. It was impossible! People would phone on a sunday morning asking for a fresh leg of lamb! Like as if I'd get everything set up, leave the family just for him to buy a leg. It wasnt worth it. I did a lot of freezing but in the end that started backing up. I did a stall (not at market) and like you said standing around all day and getting huby to take time off to carry the fridges off the van etc. This time wasnt covered for either.

I really dont know what the answer is as meat is far to cheap a lamb should be sold at livestock market for £150+, premuim pedigree beef animal £2000, pig £150+, poultry again far too cheap - I raised bronze turkeys but made no profit - £100 min.

Endless sodding paperwork EU laws and imports. Best move we ever did, rent out the farm!

Thank you v. much for the information bacon and ukfarmer it sounds like we need to campaign to improve the lot of the british farmer! There is a campaign though isn't there?

any subsidies any more?

I'm gobsmacked!! We consumers don't know the half of it! How has it come to this?? It seems that small scale farming is doomed. We really do need to have your input so that we are made aware of the situation - thanks bacon and ukfarmer. I can see it now and to me that means a bleak future - farming on an industrial scale. I saw the item on Country File in connection with the building of a huge 'milking station', housing thousands of cows. Is this really the only way forward?
Unfortunately the supermarkets will be rubbing their greedy hands together, thinking that they can get a supply of cheaper milk and make a bigger profit. Also, it is an unfortunate fact of life that the majority of consumers are also on the lookout for the cheapest possible. Quality doesn't amount to much in their eyes.
Supermarkets hold sway to such a degree now that there appears to be no way in which there onward destructive march can be halted

Subsides are more environmental now so you are expected to do alot of planting, leaving land bare - blar blar - nothing to do with farming as such. The satelites take photos of every field so they know exactly what you have. Watching for claims on land claimed for when animals are not allowed to graze grass in the winter so no dirty water runoff! Depends if your in england or wales too which is ridiculous as British is british in my eyes but with farming its all regions of GB.

Simply large farms more subsidy - hence an estate with thousands could recieve a huge, huge amount whereas a small to medium say 250 acres would get around £12,000 per year. Which is nothing on the scale of running a farm. A JD tractor £45,000 - £90,000 plus continual parts and maintenance. Combine £100,000. Sheep dips £300 per dose, Sheering sheep costs more than the wool sale, Bedding straw £25 per bale which you could use 4-5 bales per day in some weeks in winter.

Programmes like Countryfile are great and Adam is brill. So much ignornance out there - because you own land your rich but its worthless unless its worked, working fields costs more than the rewards. Sell it and the rewards are gone within 1 year and then you have nothing!

Milk stations are the only way forward for health and efficeny of milking cows. Small producers just have to make cuts and can never re-invest. The average farmer is now late fifties and hardly any younger family members want to continue because there are better jobs out there 9-5. Sad!

Yes Fifi i don't understand most people who don't care about what they eat as long as it's cheap; buying less meat but much better quality has to be healthier IMO.

bacon you'll laugh but I have a fantasy about some of our unemployed working on farms and you all using less mechanics, less oil, with much less globalisation!!

ukfarmer I quite understand your comparison of farming profits with that of a lawyers gains. I don't think it would do for a farmer to work out how much he earns per hour. Hubby and I used to run our own hotels and restaurants and worked out that we were earning 10p per hour each - similar problems with long and unsocial hours!!
Will return tomorrow - have something urgent on the agenda! Ta ta for now.

Hi Guys, IM finally out of my sick bed now(at last). ALL i can say on that matter is that there are some nasty viruses around this year. Glad this thread is still going though. I have spoken to a friend of mine and he has suggested that i re-join facebook under another name and just have it purely for this subject alone so I am going to give that a try. Thanks for your tips on meds too ppeat and also ffchef i can understand about the tickly cough as i have not got rid of it yet, it just seems that ive had this on and off for 2 months now and im getting alittle fed up with it all now. Lost my voice too but im sure everyone that knows me will say that that was a bonus for them. Great to see there is still a debate on here with ukfarmer and bacon, very interesting and shocking too.TTFN Kaz

Glad you're feeling better now kaz. Try this for yr cough: put yr thumb and forefinger either side of yr adam's apple and massage gently for 10 sec.s

Acupressure advice cont...do the same under yr chin and at the base of yr neck. Also before massaging just press gently for 10 secs. It does work well!

Glad to see you up and running Kaz - hope you recover quickly. Ppeatfruit - liked you fantasy vision. This is mine although I have to admit it sounds a bit 'communist'. Divide the country up into suitable districts and direct the farms to produce the food for their area. The upside would be to ban the sale of fresh food in supermarkets. The upside would be that we'd all get fresh food and respect what we are eating more. I'm sure it would cost more but it would make us more economical. You don't seem to hear much about making use of 'leftovers' and alot of us are all eating more protein than we really need.

Yes Fifi and the farms could be like the "leaf mark" in Waitrose. Contrary to Cameron IMO indiscriminate globalisation apart from fair trading is bad for everyone.

imo every stock broker should visit the coffee plantations etc. that they deal in and realise they are dealing in RL. IFYSWIM!!

Hi,
Thanks ppeatfruit I will give that ago when it comes back, which it usually does later in the day. It only happens after i have been out and I think alot of it is down to living in London and the air here. I also live near one of the most polluted roads in Europe so im told.
Fifichef, I agree with you about the leftovers, as i live on my own i have to make use of what food i cook and so far this week out of my sunday roast i have had 4 meals from one small joint. Sunday roast,Monday leftover and then made sheperds pie with the rest and that gave me another 2 meals. I sat on Facebook last night for 2 hours trying to e-mail them about starting a petition up and just couldnt find any contact details at all. Will keep trying to get it up somehow. At least it keeps my money away from the supermarkets and thats a bonus. TTFN Kaz

Yes ppeatfruit we are up the unemployed bunch working the farm - first of all they can start gathering up the Japanesse Knotwood thats taking over the wood (which is nothing to do with us - its come from further up - so why should we pay to get rid). Then they can start planting some hedges and have visions of delightful flowers growing around the place so a few weeks on back breaking bulb planting! We are defo putting our names down for free labour - mind you a few days with my hubby theyll be gagging for a proper job as he'll teach them what proper hard graft is!!!

Oh dear Japanese Knotweed isn't it all over the place? It's not easy to remove I know that where is yr. place? I'd come and plant bulbs but I live in France most of the time!

Our petition to no10 is getting nowhere fast.
I emailed a month ago to be told that it would be set up before the end of the year. Keep checking - nothing happening!!

Well done for keeping going Fifichef!