12th August:

A recent survey of UK food suppliers revealed, astonishingly, the feeling that UK supermarkets are 'too powerful'. That's 'astonishing' in the same way that news our oursine animal friends have a propensity to relieve themselves in forested areas probably has certain sections of the population open-mouthed in wonder.

Several hundred years ago, people farmed the land organically and sold the resulting seasonal produce to the rest of us at a local or regional markets. Now i'm not suggesting that supermarkets and/or big agro-business are the root of all evil here, but it is ironic that things seem to be coming full-circle as more and more consumers reject this business model. Local organic box schemes are increasingly popular, regional farmers markets are enjoying a revival and certain TV chefs, most notably Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, are banging the quality drum in an attempt to show us that you really do get what you pay for when it comes to food. Even London's Covent Garden recently launched a night market which runs every Thursday evening until 10pm in order to catch the young professionals who normally only have time to stop by the nearest Tesco Metro on the way home to pick up a bottle of wine something to bung in the microwave (so called 'ping-cuisine'). And this market is not some kind of tree-hugging, feel-good charity effort - it needs to be profitable and is being promoted accordingly.

What now, one wonders, for the large supermarkets? Will they increasingly focus their efforts on non-fresh produce items or will they try to take on the small producers at their own game?