How this supermarket is 'betraying' our farmers – and why others may soon join in

The appearance of Uruguayan beef on Asda’s shelves is another blow to farmers who have already been hit hard by Keir Starmer’s government

It doesn’t take much these days to persuade a farming audience that Keir Starmer is a man of malign intent when it comes to agriculture. Infuriating tax changes in the Budget were followed by the overnight withdrawal of farm subsidies in England.

Now, with rumours circulating of big cuts to farming budgets in the spending review, the Prime Minister has pretty comprehensively lost the room in rural Britain. Farmers are anxious about their future and with good cause.

With no coherent policy for food production at the heart of this government, they risk being buffeted at every turn. For that, fairly or not, they will blame the Prime Minister.

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A gaucho moves cattle into a corral at a market near Melo in northwestern Uruguay. Beef from the country is now being sold by Asda in the UK (Picture: Panta Astiazaran) | AFP via Getty Images

Fair prices for farmers

The appearance of Uruguayan beef on Asda’s shelves is just one recent case in point. When one farmer spotted this South American produce in a branch this week, he was quick to take to social media to denounce it as a betrayal.

The Asda defence, I suspect, will be a simple one. They buy and sell on price; British beef at present is commanding record prices. Never mind that they have previously made a virtue of selling only British beef, only to row back when it became inconvenient.

Where Asda leads, it is only a matter of time before all the others will follow – if the government does not take seriously the need for stronger action to support fair prices for our farmers.

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The reason for historically good prices for British beef farmers is, after all, just as simple as Asda’s excuses: supply is increasingly outstripped by demand. Over the last ten years, livestock numbers in the UK have fallen by 12 per cent.

For some that is seen not as a bug but a feature. Livestock farming looks bad on the UK carbon emissions tally sheet. If we reduce beef production here in the UK and import from Uruguay instead, it looks better for our climate scores. We may consume just as much beef but the carbon emissions are for the government in Montevideo to worry about.

A ticking time bomb

The upshot is that the government and the auditors of our emissions get to claim that the UK has met its climate targets – even if the real world consequence is an increase in global emissions.

We outsource our responsibilities, supermarkets protect their bottom line, and British agriculture – and the rural communities which rely upon it – withers on the vine. It is a system that, in the short term, works for everyone apart from local farmers. In the long term, it is a ticking time bomb for food security.

What really annoys farmers most is not just the various hits they have taken in recent months, but the government’s total inability to explain or defend them. When ministers are challenged on these issues, at best you get a random list of various initiatives to support rural communities, most of which are utterly irrelevant.

It sometimes feels like the Prime Minister cares so little about rural Britain that he can’t even be bothered to learn the script. If he wants to convince farmers that he has their best interests at heart, he could do worse than to take on the Asdas of this world – and stand up for our home-grown produce.

Alistair Carmichael is the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland