The importance of our domestic food supply system has been brought into sharp focus during the Covid-19 pandemic; including the important role played by retailers and supermarkets.
The Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) wrote to all major supermarkets during the early stages of the pandemic - at a time when empty shelves simply demonstrated the importance of food security and resilience - requesting for them to do all they could to maintain farmgate prices following the closure of the foodservice sector and consequently the loss in demand for many agricultural products.
The agricultural sector now faces a period of uncertainty and, as the UK Agricultural Bill progresses through the House of Lords, the FUW continues to lobby for Clause 2 to be introduced into the Bill in order to protect our home producers from sub-standard food imports.
The FUW continues to liaise with supermarkets on this issue and has recently written to all major supermarkets highlighting the importance of maintaining our world-leading food standards post-Brexit and and asking them to continue to support British producers by committing to not selling - not only chlorinated chicken or hormone-injected beef - but any food products produced to lower animal health and welfare, plant health and environmental protection standards than those adhered to by domestic producers.
The FUW will continue to meet with supermarkets to discuss the wealth of importance issues facing primary producers and we remain committed to protecting Welsh producers from the unfair competition of cheaper food produced to lower standards. However, in the absence of any firm commitment from the government on this issue to date, the FUW continues to lobby for an amendment to the Agricultural Bill in order to protect the interests and sustainability of family farms in Wales.