Apple growers reject retailer claims of British farmer support

British apple growers have disputed claims that supermarkets cannot afford to pay producers fair returns because they are keeping prices low for consumers.

Growers have been ripping up orchards as the prices they receive from retailers have not increased in line with their rising production costs. In addition, they face increased competition from cheap imports. 

See also: Ditching of English horticulture strategy ‘beggars belief’

Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, which represents UK retailers, was interviewed on the BBC’s Countryfile about the problems in the domestic apple-growing industry.

He told the programme that supermarkets were “trying their best” to pay producers fair prices, but implied they were keeping prices low for struggling consumers, which is why they could not pay growers a fair return.

Responding to Mr Opie’s comments, Ali Capper, executive chairwoman of British Apples & Pears Limited (BAPL), said: “That’s simply not true.”

She added: “Shoppers are already paying more – 17% more for British apples in UK supermarkets.

“It appears retailers have increased the prices of apples and pears to cover their increased costs, but not the increased costs of their suppliers. Someone is making a profit, but it’s not growers.”

Growers’ profits plunge

New analysis by the BAPL has exposed the dramatic drop in profitability among apple growers.

Across six major growers the average level of profits has declined by 133% over the past 123 months.

Input cost inflation to growers ran at about 23% last year, while supermarkets paid, on average, only 0.8% more than the previous year.

Ms Capper, an apple and hops grower in Worcestershire, added: “If retailers really were ‘doing their best to ensure a sustainable future’, as Andrew Opie claims, we would not see farmers pulling out of apple growing and reducing the numbers of new trees they’re planning on planting.”