Morrisons signs charter to back British farmers

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) called in at the firm’s 
headquarters on the second day of a tour to raise awareness of its Back British Farming 
charter which urges consumers, politicians, retailers and the 
food industry to pull together 
to better support British 
farming.

The campaign was launched in August but was stepped up on Monday when a vehicle adorned with the charter was unveiled at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester. It was the starting point of a tour, which brought the charter to West Yorkshire yesterday.

Morrisons’ group corporate services director Martyn Jones signed the charter in the presence of Richard Pearson, the NFU’s newly appointed regional director. Other backers include Waitrose and TV chef James Martin.

Speaking at Morrisons’ HQ, Mr Pearson said Britain relies too much on imported food and drink, and not enough home-produced food is stocked by supermarkets or served in the food services industry.

The UK produces just 62 per cent of its own food, he said, and 78 per cent of consumers want to be able to choose from more British produce. “Our campaign highlights that if all the food produced in Britain was stored and eaten from January 1, supplies would run out on August 14,” Mr Pearson said.

“With public backing, we are determined to change a situation where we import more than £37bn of food and drink – much of which we could produce ourselves. We believe that together we can make a difference and that’s what our charter is designed to highlight.”

At the NFU’s annual conference in February, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said Britain imports 22 per cent of food that could be produced here.

Morrisons says it deals directly with more than 5,000 farmers and all its fresh beef, pork, lamb and poultry is 100 per cent British.

“We have always been a supporter of UK agriculture and buy a bigger proportion of the food that we sell from British farmers than any other major supermarket,” Mr Jones said.

“We were therefore delighted to be able to sign up to the Back British Farming charter and fully support its goals.”

He added: “We want to make sure we have a sustainable and affordable food supply for the future and that’s best coming out of Britain. What we have to do as supermarkets is work with farmers, packers and producers to ensure that the UK farming industry remains competitive in a sustainable way and we can only do that by working together with an end-to-end supply chain model which Morrisons has done for many years and will continue to do so.”

Mr Pearson welcomed Morrisons’ backing and said he hoped to see more British produce on its shelves in the future.

He called on other retailers to do more to back farmers, many of whom do not feel empowered to invest in their businesses to improve food production because of tight returns for their produce, he said.

“Our growers invest a lot of time and effort and meet high welfare standards to make sure their products are right for supermarkets,” Mr Pearson said.

“What we need is commitment from these companies to give our farmers the confidence to invest in the future. Our farmers need concrete signs. They can’t grow something on a whim in the hope that it will go to a supermarket.”

• The Back British Farming Charter is at www.nfuonline.com/charter.