Cost of Living: Food Waste

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts

Thursday 21st September 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Harlech (Con)]

Levying sounds like something for the Treasury to think about.

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

For the assistance of the House, I believe the noble Baroness, Lady D'Souza, was probably talking about FairShare. I hope the Minister is aware of the letter sent this week to the CEOs of the six largest supermarkets by #getfairaboutfarming. One of the requests in that letter is relevant to this Question as it asks supermarkets to buy what they have committed to buy. Farmers suffer major economic loss and a huge amount of food is wasted because supermarkets order food and then refuse to take it and put it on the shelves, so it rots in the fields. Are the Government going to force supermarkets to get fairer with farmers and with all the benefits of cutting food waste?

[Lord Harlech (Con)]

I take the noble Baroness’s point. As I said in my declaration of interests, I come from a farming background, so I think it is essential for farmers, many of whom are, in effect, small producers, to get a fair price for what they produce.