Dominant retailers, consumption of British produce and the UK’s self-sufficiency in fresh produce were among issues raised by Prince Charles in his letters to former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
In the letters, nicknamed the ‘black spider memos’ and published by the Guardian newspaper, Charles said there is “no doubt that the dominant position of the retailers” is the single biggest issue affecting British farmers and the food chain. “If it is not dealt with all the other good work which has been going on risks becoming virtually useless,” he said, before adding that he would support an “individual arbitrator” to deal with complaints about supplier retail relations.
He also suggested that grower and producer co-operatives would be one way that industry could counter the dominance of retailers and larger processors.
“Unless United Kingdom co-operatives can grow sufficiently the processors and retailers will continue to have the farmers in an arm lock and we will continue to shoot ourselves in the foot,” he wrote in letters between 2004 and 2005.
Outlining the challenges to increasing consumption of British produce, Charles said it would be “splendid” if the government could find ways to lead a campaign to promote UK produce.
“So much depends on the consumer demanding British produce and I only wish that more could be done to encourage people to buy British and to understand that it is only with their support that British agriculture and the will survive.
“I know that European rules preclude the government from running a campaign to promote, solely, British produce but, for all that, it would be splendid if the Government could find innovative ways to give the necessary lead.”
Alluding to the regular correspondence between himself and Blair, Charles said he had raised “on a number of occasions” the importance of reducing the administrative burden on farmers, as well as his “anxiety” on the topic of self-sufficiency.
“I also mentioned to you my anxiety about this country’s lack of self-sufficiency in staple foods, such as meat and vegetables,” he wrote. “Recent trade figures showed a decline of 12 percent over the decade falling from 86 per cent in 1994 to 74 per cent in 2004 and only 64 per cent for all food. On both environmental and economic grounds this has to be a worrying trend, let alone form the point of view of this country’s food security.”
All letters were published after a lengthy battle over a Freedom of Information request by a Guardian journalist, and were published in the newspaper this week (13 May). They can be viewed in full here.
