News in brief: UK farmers are planning nationwide protests at supermarket distribution centers over low prices and to seek more support due to rising costs. They are targeting centers of major retailers like Morrisons, Asda, Tesco, and Sainsbury’s, citing challenges affecting the British farming industry.
Farmers in the United Kingdom (UK) are planning a nationwide night of action against supermarket distribution centers on October 13 to protest low prices and demand more support.
Distribution centers at a number of UK retailers, including Morrisons, Asda, Tesco, and Sainsbury’s, will be targeted as the Proud to Farm group, coordinating the farmers protests, released a list of targets on its TikTok site. In total, the post named more than 30 sites across the region for protests.
The group is calling on farmers and the public to come together and show their support for British farming. They say that farmers are struggling to survive due to a ‘perfect storm’ of rising farm input and energy costs, reducing levels of farm support, and stagnant prices.
The protests are likely to cause disruption to supermarket deliveries, but farmers say that they are necessary to highlight the plight of the British agricultural industry.
A news report said that the British farming sector is in a state of crisis, naming several challenges plaguing the industry that arose as after-effects of Brexit. It explained that this factor is especially hard-hitting as new trade barriers and bureaucratic hurdles are making it more difficult for farmers to export goods to the EU.
These challenges have led to a decline in farm incomes, with many farmers struggling to make a living, the report continued. Thus, groups have made calls for government action to support the British agricultural industry, and this planned protest is one way they hope to highlight their plight.
