Headlines around food inflation have sparked a wider debate about the cost of food, namely, dare I say it, how cheap it is.
Amid a cost of living crisis when many customers are struggling to make ends meet and are being forced to take tough decisions on what to put in or leave out of their shopping basket, prices being paid to farmers and growers are still not meeting the cost of production.
And as recent months have proved, that can only go on for so long.
Crops are not being planted, products are being delisted, businesses are being backed into a corner and making some difficult decisions of their own.
One grower told me that the 2021/2022 season, when businesses were hit with an eye-watering 30 per cent rise in agflation, has left an unwanted legacy, which is still weighing heavy on his operation.
While fertiliser, fuel, energy and prices are on their way down, it will be some time until the pressure at the farm gate is eased.
Other costs, such as wages and worker accommodation for example, are still increasing.
As our arable specialist and In Your Field columnist Alice Dyer writes on P86, consumers have been Â’spoiltÂ’ for so long, conditioned into thinking that everything should be available, all year-round and should be the same price as it was 10 years ago.
And retailers are falling over themselves to keep the dream alive.
Britain boasts the fourth cheapest food in the world and, worryingly, IÂ’m told it is expected to rank even cheaper.
The reality is that if producers cannot cover the cost of production and make a modest margin, they wonÂ’t be here for much longer.
For a Government which reckons to care about food security and for retailers competing to keep prices low and maintain footfall and market share, surely what weÂ’re seeing now is a warning that has to be heeded and fast.
