Yorkshire Post Campaign: A real change for the better – but it’s only the first step

OSCAR Wilde once wrote that “duty is what one expects from others, not from ourselves”.

Like so many of the writer’s great one-liners, the quote, from his play A Woman of No Importance, has stood the test of time and accurately reflects the attitude of our leaders to the big issues of the day.

The banking crisis, MPs’ expenses scandal, phone hacking revelations and urban riots have one trait in common – a lack of clear leadership and responsibility.

However proof has emerged that resolving to do the right thing to tackle a problem can yield positive results. And this time the beneficiaries are a group invariably overlooked in modern British life – farmers.

I have had the privilege of writing about farming for the Yorkshire Post for several years and I am about to do something rare – praise both the Government and the supermarket industry simultaneously.

It emerged last week that the majority of food sold on our supermarket shelves was now being properly labelled to state where it was produced, and where it comes from.

This contrasts sharply with the picture just a few years ago when cheap and poor quality meat was being sold as British, masquerading in packaging adorned with Union Jacks, despite it only being packaged or processed here. This dishonest and widespread practice was perfectly legal under European law.

The situation once again presented British farmers with yet another uphill battle as they were producing food at far higher and more expensive standards of welfare than their foreign competitors, but dishonest labelling meant they were losing out. This led to massive influxes of cheap foreign meat being imported and sold as British to unsuspecting consumers.

When the scale of the problem emerged, there was quite rightly outrage from patriotic consumers who wanted to back Britain’s hard-working farmers but were left unsure as to how to do so.

The Yorkshire Post’s Clearly British campaign was established in 2007 and sought to rectify the problem. It called on politicians and business leaders to end this dishonest practice. To their credit, they have done just that.

MPs of all parties, mindful of the upcoming 2010 election, agreed the issue required attention and the Tories even went so far as to say they would look at legislating directly from Whitehall on the matter. Labour, perhaps mindful of the difficulties dealing with the EU, favoured a voluntary approach.

The seriousness with which all parties treated the issue reflected its scale.

Politicians know that rural issues generally don’t garner many votes, but consumers do. Survey after survey showed the public wanted both to buy British, and to see accurate labelling. By responding to this desire, all parties knew they were backing a winner.

What was perhaps more remarkable was the volte face from the supermarket industry.

Late last year, the British Retail Consortium announced it would draw up a set of guidelines in partnership with food manufacturers, caterers and the hospitality trade to ensure more consistent information on the origin of food.

The rules were to apply to meat, processed meat products such as sausages, bacon and ham, milk as well as fresh cream, cheese and butter.

This voluntary approach is exactly what the Government and farmers wanted. For politicians, it meant no need for lengthy consultations and legislation building. For farmers it meant retailers were hearing their plea and responding effectively.

I will always recall a pig farmer from Yorkshire speaking to me about importance of accurate labelling while travelling down to London for a demonstration.

He said: “If we can just get this sorted out we will be on a level playing field. If the British consumers don’t want to buy our pork I can accept that. What I cannot accept is the unfair marketplace.”

The supermarkets’ admirable moral standpoint on this will doubtless have been driven by consumer demand. Ultimately, the new practice will strengthen their reputation with consumers who have in the past rightly developed suspicion of the power and influence these multi-billion pound businesses exert.

The change in direction is definitely time for both our elected and business leaders to be given plaudits.

However, rather than rest on these laurels, both groups should resolve that this is just the first chapter in a new era for farming.

A long-standing mantra from all of the large food retailers is that they are keen to support a vibrant and sustainable farming industry in Britain, but the facts do not bear this out.

Each year the supermarkets report ever grander profits while Britain’s farmers are still being driven out of business at a rate of two a day because they are not being paid a fair deal.

Today the Yorkshire Post reports that overheads for farmers have risen faster than the price the public pays for food for the fifth year in succession. Fertilizer costs alone have more than doubled in recent years.

The fact that these increased costs are not being reflected at the farmgate is a huge barrier to farmers being able to invest and grow their businesses, a process needed if we are to remain competitive with foreign rivals.

Nowhere is this situation felt more acutely than in the dairy sector where farmers have suffered a torrid few years of low prices and excessive regulation.

Ludicrously, we continue to stock a perishable commodity like milk produced on German and Dutch farms rather than source it all from British cows.

Here are just two issues that both supermarkets and politicians should confront if they are true to their words when they say they want British farmers to flourish.

We are the only country in history to have made a conscious decision not to feed ourselves, made when the British Empire occupied a quarter of the globe.

However this decision made in Victorian times has failed to be consigned to history and remains part of the mindset of many of our leaders.

Just a few years ago a Secretary of State for Defra remarked that we were a rich country which could afford to import our food.

We need to move away from this Victorian mindset and make sure our farming industry is given the backing it needs to remain in business in the 21st century.

Beginning to resolve the labelling process should be seen as just the beginning if the coming generations are to enjoy British food. It’s now the duty of politicians and industry to prove Oscar Wilde’s words of wisdom wrong and assume duty themselves.

Our future ability to feed ourselves depends on this.

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