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Is Shopping At Tesco Killing the UK Countryside?
In February while in England, I wrote about the British media's
love affair with Tesco and it's managing director Sir (or is
that Saint) Terry Leahy. At the time I was about to embark on a
three-week roadshow of seminars for farm shops and farmers
markets where I expected to hear a different viewpoint.
I did, but to their credit this was coupled with a passion for
educating the public to the benefits of farm fresh, local
produce for their health, taste buds and the local economy.
To get a more comprehensive understanding of this, I purchased
"Shopped - The Shocking Power of Supermarkets", a newly released
book by award winning UK food writer, Joanna Blythman.
This controversial 382 book paints a different picture to the
one that I had seen and read in the British media. For example,
Blythman reports that at Tesco's June 2003 AGM at a London hotel
-
"Real farmers held up placards bearing questions that Tesco
might prefer its shareholders not to think about. 'Tesco profits
- farmers squeezed.' 'Who's creaming it? Farmer paid 9p a pint.
Shopper pays...?' 'Who snatched the biggest slice? Farmers get
7p a loaf. Shopper pays...?' Perhaps the most poignant was the
placard that read: 'Cheap food? 11 farmers go bust every day...1
commits suicide every week."
When the subject of board members £1 million plus pay packets
came up at the AGM "...a Lincolnshire arable farmer in the
audience, Peter Lungdren, pointed out that the average farm
income had dropped to £11,000 a year and that 30 per cent of
farming families were living on family credit. He congratulated
Tesco on their impressive profits but said that these were being
achieved through environmental degradation and rural degradation
caused by supermarkets not paying a fair price to the people who
grow the nation's food."
Blythman points out that few farmers dare to be as candid as
Lungdren. "A permanent threat of delisting (the supermarket
ceasing to stock their product) hangs over them...In the past
decade supermarkets have established a near feudal relationship
with their suppliers, tightening their control over them,
effectively dictating what they produce and screwing down
prices, yet offering no security in return. A Surrey grower,
Charles Secrett, gave me a graphic example of the gnawing
insecurity suppliers feel. 'One winter, it was so frosty we
couldn't get the leeks out the ground. But we knew if we didn't
get them to the retailer, it would be a black mark against us
and probably affect the growing programme they gave us next
season. So we literally went out and chiselled the leeks out of
the soil rather than tell them we had a problem."
Destroying town centres "Mention the word 'parking' to
independent retailers and be prepared to stand and listen for
some time. They feel a huge sense of injustice at the large
supermarket chains' free-parking advantage over town-based
shops. They see themselves as victims of pseudo-environmental
town planning, selectively applied. Consumers can drive to
out-of-town super-stores and park for free. But if they would
prefer to spread a significant amount of the household shopping
around local shops, either they will need strong arms to
transport heavy shopping by foot - in 2000 the average family
food shopping weighed around 36 kilos - or they will have to
cruise round patiently in their cars to find one of a
diminishing number of parking spaces."
Blythman quotes a recent government report which states that the
large amount of free parking offered by out of town supermarkets
gives them an enormous competitive advantage over city-centre
stores. In addition, supermarkets at these sites generate more
car use, making the situation on already congested roads worse.
Meanwhile..."local shops and their potential customers dodge
vigilant traffic wardens keenly enforcing their council's green
sounding, leave your car at home policy."
Customer power It seems though that customers are voting with
their car keys. The large out of town supermarkets are giving
customers the quality and variety they demand and they are going
back for more. Or are they being conned into buying whatever is
easiest and most cost effective for the big box retailers to
source and display?
According to Blythman, what supermarkets excel at is
"over-packaged, over-processed, much travelled ingredients that
put two fingers up to the seasons and any notion of locality or
geographical specificity."
She says that, "much supermarket produce never tastes of
anything much because it has been harvested prematurely to stop
it deteriorating during transportation and on the shelf...fresh
produce simply doesn't travel well. No surprises then that
consumers are encouraged by supermarkets to shop with their eyes
only, all other senses suspended"
"Growers come up with produce that keeps the supermarket quality
controller happy; the consumer is not the primary concern.
Consequently most growing decisions - variety, method of
cultivation, time of harvesting - are taken so as to ensure
produce that meets cosmetic standards."
Charles Secrett confirms this -
"Before the (big box) supermarket arrived, we were
self-sufficient in vegetables in the UK. The supermarkets have
destroyed British horticulture. The chink of light for growers
who have hung on over the last five years, we've noticed that
more shoppers are fed up with clinical supermarket produce that
looks good but tastes dreadful when you take it out of its
crinkly polypropylene film. They are looking for produce like
they used to be able to buy. A sector of the public is
clamouring for the real article. You only have to eat English
asparagus and compare it with the imported equivalent to realise
what a difference there is."
I must confess that I enjoy the shopping experience at Tesco and
the other top UK supermarket operators. I also love the fresh,
seasonal produce at the growing number of professionally run
farm shops and farmers markets. It is interesting to note that
this sector - direct sales from farm to consumer - is thriving,
while few others are in the UK. And there is nothing to beat
locally grown, freshly picked produce in season. It's something
most of us want for our children as well as for our taste buds
and our health and vitality.
I'm sure this great British debate will continue so if it
interests you, I'd definitely recommend you invest in a copy of
"Shopped - The Shocking Power of Supermarkets". If you live in
the UK you should have no trouble getting it through good book
stores. From other parts of the world it may be more difficult,
so we have included a link at the Resources section of our
website www.terrifictrading.com.
About the author:
Jurek Leon is a speaker, trainer and consultant. To subscribe to
Jurek's FREE monthly email newsletter go to the Free Articles
section of his website www.terrifictrading.com
Written by: Jurek Leon
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