Fixing farming - Farron

8.40.00am GMT Wed 6th Jan 2010

Tim Farron MP

Commenting as the government launched its food strategy to 2030, Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, Tim Farron said: "While the government has finally recognised the importance of UK farming to the future of Britain's food supply, the reality is that English farmers have been badly hit by rock bottom farm gate prices which have slashed incomes."

"There's no point in having a strategy for 2030 if farming is dead by 2020.

"It's clear that the government's model for sustainable farming isn't working. What farmers need right now is a fair price for their produce.

"With thousands of farmers on the brink of bankruptcy, we need a new independent regulator to ensure producers are never forced to sell at a loss to over-powerful supermarkets."

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Commenting on Conservative proposals to introduce a "supermarket ombudsman", Tim Farron said:

"For too long, Britain's food market has been dominated by a 'trolleygarchy' that has seen profits monopolised by the big supermarkets.

"While the Tories want to sound tough, today's announcement is like fighting a gun battle with a water pistol.

"Farmers will only get a fair deal if a new regulator is given the teeth to enforce a strict, legally binding code governing the relationship between supermarkets, suppliers, and pricing.

"It is to its shame that the Government has colluded in the dominance of the supermarkets by failing to follow through on explicit recommendations from its own Competition Commission to establish a genuinely independent regulator."