Supermarket Squeeze or the Inspiration behind local produce?
The old supermarket debate regarding the omni-potent corporations who control our choice of food goes on, dictating the meagre margins that farmers make, and putting them out of business in the process, goes on.
It seems difficult to have a conversation with a market trader or food business that doesn’t at some point turn to the “big ‘ol baddies”. Inevitably, price and overbearing power over our choices as individual shoppers are the topics of discussion. These topics may come as a surprise, for surely stocking mangosteens in March and apples in April is providing me with choice, right? Wrong. There are discreet cogs turning away that affect what is stocked where and when, which in itself is not a bad thing, until you take into consideration the following experiences.
Take this example – at 2 Swansea supermarkets, I personally spoke with the fresh produce manager of each about the availability of the stock (or lack of) and the unbelievably poor quality, i.e unfit for consumption. Both managers agreed and made their respective promises to rectify the situation. Months later, I am still waiting to see any difference in these areas. Although it appears that complaining may not get something done, I’m certain that taking my pennies elsewhere will eventually have an impact. I have also entirely given up purchasing fresh produce from either. To make things worse, I was even recommended to shop on a Saturday to ensure freshness, and that the poor quality of the produce was in relation to the low earning demographic that lived around and used the supermarket! So I guess if you are relatively poor, you get relatively poor produce, at the same price. I left shaking my head in disbelief.
The real problem here is that I have no other choice about where I can purchase my fresh produce from. I have found some suppliers, but only after my local independent closed down due to supermarket pressure. The way I see it, if a supermarket can not provide convenience at least, over and in lieu of quality (choice) and price, what good are they?
The other discussion is around is price. It is a fallacy that markets are more expensive than supermarkets (according to my close observations, if not to official statistics). This is certainly not the case at traditional markets like the Swansea market –I can buy free range eggs of a far superior quality for up to 30% less than a comparable purchase at the supermarkets. And the market eggs come all the way from Dunvant. The local produce markets often have a slightly different clientele and do sell a different range of goods at a different price range, but for the most part they represent great value in terms of quantity vs price, without even taking into account the incontestable difference in taste and quality. For instance though a packet of standard supermarket chicken breasts will cost you around £3, The Mountain Rose farm breasts, which are completely free range, at around £5 will give you substantially more meat, don’t have water pumped into them top enlarge them (just watch them shrink when cooked!) And the difference in quality – well I’ll leave you to see! And again, I am enjoying local products with all the environmental and social benefits that brings.
You might like to argue the supermarkets side of things: after all you can purchase Welsh potatoes, Welsh Caulis, Welsh Lamb and so on, from most supermarkets. Clever at marketing, (some small producers could learn a trick or two), they have caught on to the public’s desire for local produce ( and even exacerbated it).But again, I’d willingly put any of the local supplier’s produce to the test. Just because a packet of meat has a ‘local’ suppliers photo on does not mean it hasn’t travelled halfway across the country first before arriving on your doorstep, or that the animals are known individually, or butchered personally and locally. Similarly, compare a bottle of wine, £ for £, between a wine merchant who has a number of selective factors in choosing his wine and the supermarket’s price focussed selection procedure and the majority of the time, if you are spending £5 or more, you can really only be happy shopping at the supermarket for convenience.
If I can find one argument for the supermarket it has to be the post 5 o’clock shop. I just can’t get hold of what I need after work, and so have to wait until the weekend. If I could persuade the smaller butchers, veg shops and so on to stay open until 6, it would make a huge difference to the amount of money I would spend there. Even my desire to deal with someone who cares about what they are selling to me cannot be overridden by convenience at this time of the day.
Finally, and rather peculiarly you might think, I’d like to thank the supermarkets for squeezing out the farmer’s and producers. For 10, nay, even 5 years ago, we didn’t have the thriving, growing, local food scene that is commonplace now not only at markets and small independent shops, but also at our restaurants. These same producers , who have had an entrepreneurial spirit and the inclination not to let the drive for greater supermarket margins destroy their livelihoods, are now bringing us great pleasure by selling directly to me and you. Together with those who always have done at the more established markets, I now spend less on my weekly shop, and my food tastes so much better.