Video: Archbishop hits out at supermarkets

THE Archbishop of York launched an attack on Britain’s supermarkets yesterday and accused them of paying too low a price to farmers.

Dr John Sentamu said British consumers are paying too little for their food and claimed that cheap imports are making it difficult for the country’s farmers to earn a decent living.

The archbishop, who is an impassioned advocate of British farming, said he regularly visited farms and found he was often being told the same thing – that prices are too low.

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He also maintained that Britain’s uplands communities, such as the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors, would fall into ruin without the presence of farmers. But he said upland farmers were often the most economically disadvantaged.

Speaking to the Yorkshire Post during a visit to the Great Yorkshire Showground yesterday, Dr Sentamu said times remained very difficult for many Yorkshire farmers, with dairy producers in particular bearing the brunt of poor prices.

The archbishop said: “Some of them really are having a tough time. The truth is that they grow and produce the best there is in the country and beyond.

“And I also should say they keep the countryside looking beautiful. Without farming there would be nothing.”

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Dr Sentamu stressed the key to a more sustainable British agricultural industry lay in the prices that we are used to paying for food.

“We consumers have got to be prepared to pay a much higher price and I also think that the supermarkets have got to pay farmers the right price for them, particularly when it comes to milk. What they pay now is far too cheap.”

He said cheap foreign imports had flooded the market, particularly for milk, and added: “We could just decide (as a country) to just buy British and take less in imports.

“What we have in the UK is better quality and we have to pay a bit more and give British farmers a higher price.”

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The archbishop has long argued in favour of consumers adopting more of a “buy British” mindset for the food that they eat, saying it is necessary to benefit the rural economy and make our supply of food more sustainable and secure.

He made headlines in 2008 for his “Buy British” call and has forged strong links with Yorkshire’s farming community since taking over his role as the Archbishop of York in 2005.

Britain remains a large-scale importer of food, despite being the biggest sheep producer in Europe and the third largest beef producer.

Mary Creagh, Labour’s Shadow Environment Minister who is the MP for Wakefield, told the Yorkshire Post that action needed to be taken to speed up the appointment of a grocery trade adjudicator.

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“We have been pressing for it,” she said. “We have been asking a series of questions and calling for actions from Government.

“As it stands the legislation we want will not be starting to go through the House of Commons before spring/summer of next year, which means it could 2013 before it comes in, and that is assuming there is a fair wind.

“As we all know it is not always a fair wind for legislation, which means it could be even later. Farmers do not want us to wait that long before we have a figure who can take action over unfair practices.”

Ms Creagh, who took over the shadow Defra role from Hilary Benn, was making her remarks yesterday following her first visit to the Great Yorkshire Show.