UK farmers are receiving little-to-none profits for many essential items as food prices and supermarkets boast record takings.
According to food charity Sustain, farmers invest in changing to more environmentally sustainable systems as a result of tiny margins they are receiving on essentials such as apples, cheese, carrots and bread.
According to the report by the charity, “Unpicking Food Prices: Where does your food pound go and why do farmers get so little?”, an average block of cheese or loaf of bread produces less than a penny for farmers.
Fruit producers end up making just 3p from each kilo of apples, it revealed.
The report suggests farmers received less than 1% of profits if supplying a supermarket chain, despite battling extreme weather events, which included flooding and drought, alongside soaring production costs and energy.
Instead, profits are directed to intermediaries like processors, transport companies and retailers, the report stated.
“It is astonishing how little of the money we pay for our food ends up in the hands of the farmers and growers,” Sustain head of farming Vicki Hird said.
“Farmers carry a lot of risk and work in difficult conditions to put food on our table. We also expect them to look after our landscape and our nature – and want them to do more of that in the future, including protecting nature and helping to cut 30% of food-based climate changing greenhouse gas emissions.
“If they are to do that, they need more money in their businesses. That money should not leach out of the system into the coffers of food industry intermediaries and supermarkets.”
The news comes as egg farmer Ioan Humphreys has called out supermarkets for “not paying egg farmers”, instead blaming avian flu on the shortages of eggs on the shelves.
Taking to social media, Humphreys posted a video contradicting supermarket claims that egg shortages are occurring due to avian flu, stating that retailers are raising prices for the customer but not paying enough for farmers to continue producing eggs.