Dairy Industry

Simon Hart Excerpts

Thursday 13th September 2012 Westminster Hall

[Simon Hart (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire) (Con)]

There was a time during the post office closure programme when post offices were described as places that did a little more than just sell stamps. Dairy farmers are people who do a great deal more than simply produce milk. I want to focus, as other hon. Members have done, on the social and economic contribution of dairy farming, particularly in west Wales. The context of this debate is interesting. It has been triggered by and has focused on milk prices, but it is also about fuel prices; food labelling; procurement; the final eradication of TB; diversification in the countryside; the ability of farmers to plan and planners to co-operate with farmers in so doing; and bank lending and the availability of credit. It is also about the one issue over which we have precious little influence—the weather and its impact on input costs.

We should be discussing a great deal more than just the nub of the debate, and that can be summed up in one phrase—farming and farmers’ place in society—and the value that we as politicians and as a nation attach to that. That is the context of this debate, and the price of milk has crystallised our thoughts and brought us here. It has also brought our union farming friends to this building to champion their members.

I want to speak only briefly about milk prices, because other hon. Members have covered the matter so well. An interesting observation during the summer about the dilemma facing supermarkets was whether we protect the brand against an interesting and developing public campaign, or simply protect the bottom line. That was summed up by the fact that nothing changed economically for retailers from the day when the price drop was announced to the day when it was reversed. The only thing that happened during that period was that a coalition of farmers led a very effective and at times aggressive public campaign, which resonated with the public and the press. For the first time, people realised that something sinister was going on, and good people who were trying to make a good living in difficult circumstances were being shafted by people with no real regard for the way in which those businesses were being conducted.

Let us not be too cynical, but suddenly supermarkets and retailers started to change their narrative and their argument, not on the back of any economic arguments or developments, but purely because the nation was beginning to clock on to the fact that there was a great injustice. It is a credit to all those who were involved in the public campaign, and who drove down to Somerset in the middle of the night and lawfully picketed processors’ establishments. It is a great credit to them that they did so lawfully, and attracted great public sympathy. I will not say more about that, but it shows how effective such campaigns can be if they are done properly. The brands of the supermarkets are nearly as important as their bottom line, and we must not let them forget that.

The voluntary code has been covered quite a bit. It is a first step. The processors must—not should—co-operate. It must be seen to be transparent, it must ensure good governance, it must provide bargaining power for producers in a way that is not currently available, and it must—I underline this several times—be subject to stringent and regular review by Ministers in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Without all that, we will come back here shortly for another Westminster Hall debate to discuss the effectiveness, or perhaps the lack of it, of the voluntary code.

We can have an effective code, and as my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Neil Parish) said, supermarkets in the top division have nothing to worry about from that, but people at the other end who are quietly and knowingly shafting the farming industry have every reason to be worried. That is why we want it, and that is why we will not take the spotlight off them until they co-operate with the spirit as well as the letter of the voluntary code.

On contracts, I hope that the Minister will confirm that if there is any failure in the voluntary code, legislation will follow promptly, and I hope that he will make the time scale clear. The contracts today are grossly one-sided, and only the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority would be proud of presenting such contracts. We have a little experience, and sympathy with our farmers, on that score.

What can the Government do? They can monitor the code, and legislate if necessary. They can give the Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill big, sharp teeth. Let us not mince our words, but put it in place. They can make greater progress with Government procurement and food labelling, and be absolutely resolute on the eradication of TB—let us have no truck with it. Let us get on and do it, and do it efficiently. Above all, let us ensure that whenever we, and our lords and masters, get to our feet we champion the farming industry with every ounce of energy we possess.