The Tenant Farmers Association has spoken out against the accepted mantra that we must get closer to and rely more heavily upon the marketplace to determine our food security at this year’s Livestock Event.

“As an economist I am acutely aware of the theory of the free market and its ability to ensure a fair allocation of resources for goods and services. But it is just a theory. Its stringent pre-conditions mean that it can never exist in practice. In operating in the environment of at least the second best, slavish reliance upon the market will only produce outcomes which favour those who have dominant power,” said TFA Chief Executive George Dunn.

“We have seen recently in the dairy sector where a small number of retailers and processors are able to dictate prices to dairy farmers until of course those dairy farmers react peaceable but with force against those reductions. We are seeing similar within the pig and poultry sectors with processors and retailers unwilling to pay primary producers prices which are at least commensurate with the costs of production,” he continued.

“We need a robust and coherent Common Agricultural Policy to ensure fair livelihoods for working farmers whilst providing a framework for food and environmental security couples with a strong regulatory environment which ensures fairness for all in the food supply chain,” he added.

There is lots more news from the Livestock 2012 event - see our Livestock and Renewables pages.

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