Furious British farmers have parked about 20 tractors outside a Tesco Extra near Dover in a protest over threats to food security in the UK due to their “unfair” treatment.
The action in Whitfield, Kent, on Saturday (February 17) comes after a group of farmers staged a go-slow protest around the Port of Dover on February 9.
Banners reading ‘Back British farmers’ and ‘We need your support now’ have been displayed outside the store along with vehicles, including tractors and telescopic handlers.
Livestock and potato farmer Jeff Gibson told FarmingBritain.tv the farmers’ concerns centre on sustainability and whether they can feed Britons.
He said: “British farmers can’t compete with cheap foreign imports and we’re going to be left in a situation where we cannot feed the British public.
“The biggest problem we’re going to face as an industry and the British public in future years is, what happens in the next crisis, what happens in the next Covid, what happens in the next Ukraine war?”
Mr Gibson added: “We need to make people realise that food security in this country is really under threat. If nothing is done, if the Government trade deals go through, we’re going to have points in the future … when the UK’s supermarket shelves are empty and they’re going to be empty for a long time.”
Farmers taking part in the protest want to raise awareness about the issues with the public in the supermarket car park. Tesco granted them permission to stage their protest there.
Mr Gibson added the police were aware of the protest and he believed the general public would “rally behind farmers”.
The east Kent farmer said: “We’re not going to be tearing up motorways, we’re not going to be spreading Government buildings in manure. We’re going to do this peacefully and we’re going to exercise our right to peaceful protest.”
Mr Gibson said farmers have to make a real effort to win over the British public to show them how “unfair the current system is” He said it is unfair because foreign imports are cheaper because of the ways and standards under which they are produced.
The farmer said: “We do everything we can as an industry to produce the highest standards of food and welfare in the world. We feel that’s being eroded away by terrible Brexit deals, a complete and utter lack of empathy from the UK Government and the supermarkets for the way they treat British farmers.”
The protest comes as farmers across Europe have been demonstrating against European Union farming policies on concerns such as unfair competition and cost hikes.
In Poland, access roads to border crossings with Ukraine were blocked by tractors, while in several Spanish cities protests continued overnight with 20 people arrested during last week’s protests. Protests have also taken place in other EU member nations including France and Italy.
A Government spokesperson said: “We firmly back our farmers. British farming is at the heart of British trade, and we put agriculture at the forefront of any deals we negotiate, prioritising new export opportunities, protecting UK food standards and removing market access barriers.
“We’ve maintained the £2.4billion annual farming budget which supports farmers to produce food profitably and sustainably and are also looking at ways to further improve fairness in the supply chain and support British farmers and growers, as well as ensuring customers have access to high-quality fresh British products.”
Since Brexit, the UK has struck trade deals with Australia and New Zealand which the Government maintains include safeguards for British farmers, including the gradual removal of tariffs over 15 years and a safety net allowing tariffs or restrictions to be reimposed if the industry faces “serious harm”.
Reviews into the dairy, egg and pig supply chains are being carried out, with new regulations due to come into effect later this year. A further review is underway aimed at improving fairness in the fresh produce supply chain.
