The True Cost of Cheap Food
What Supermarkets Aren’t Telling You About British Farming
Cheap food isn't really cheap. We pay for it in ways that don’t show up on a supermarket receipt—through struggling farmers, soil degradation, our own health, collapsing rural communities, and a food system that prioritizes profit over resilience.
As a farmer raising rare breed pigs on a small outdoor system, I live the consequences of this every single day. But what’s happening to farms like mine is only part of a much bigger picture. The way food is priced, produced, and controlled in Britain today is a race to the bottom—and unless we start talking about the real costs behind cheap food, we risk losing the very thing that keeps us fed: our farms.
The Hidden Costs Behind Your Food Bill
In the UK, recent weeks have exposed the cracks in our food and farming system like never before. On March 11th, DEFRA announced a sudden halt to new applications for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)—a blow to thousands of farmers already trying to navigate the transition from EU support. On March 10th, reports emerged of plans to fast-track lab-grown meat onto supermarket shelves by 2027. Simultaneously, local councils have gained powers to force farmers to sell their land below market value for development.
The Land Use Consultation proposes removing agricultural land equal in size to Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Surrey, and Sussex combined. And just days later, Labour announced plans to abolish NHS England, centralising health and social care under direct government control.
Why does that matter to farming? Because cheap food is a symptom of a broken system—and now that same system is aligning food and health policy in ways that will deepen our reliance on ultra-processed imports while sidelining homegrown food and local farms.
Supermarkets have conditioned us to expect food that is cheap, convenient, and always in stock. But that illusion is cracking. According to the Sustainable Food Trust, the price we pay at the till is only half the true cost of our food. The rest is paid in hidden ways:
Water contamination from fertilizers and pesticides
Soil erosion and compaction from intensive monocropping
Loss of biodiversity, pollinators, and hedgerows
Rising rates of obesity, diabetes, and diet-related disease
The Food, Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC) backs this up. Their 2025 report found that the UK’s obsession with cheap calories hasn’t made food more accessible or nutritious. Instead, it’s pushed farmers to the brink and placed our food security in the hands of multinationals.
Why Are Farmers Struggling?
Farming incomes have barely risen in real terms since the 1970s. FFCC’s analysis reveals that small farms are being crushed under the weight of supermarket dominance, cheap imports, and input costs that keep climbing.
Take milling wheat, the backbone of British bread:
In 1984, a tonne was worth £346 (inflation-adjusted)
In 2023, it’s worth just £210—a 39% real-terms drop
And as of April 1st, 2025, British farmers have had enough.
In an unprecedented move, grain farmers are refusing to release milling wheat from their stores. This “strike,” led in part by farmer and campaigner Olly Harrison, aims to show just how fragile our food supply chains are. Over 85% of the wheat in UK bread is grown here, and now that supply is being withheld.
The reason? A proposed “Tractor Tax” from the Labour government and the broader pressure facing British farmers. Farmers are urging the public to contact their MPs and speak up for the future of homegrown food.
“No hot cross buns for Easter! No barbecue baps! It might be April Fool’s Day, but Britain’s food security is no joke.” - Ollie Harrison
These aren’t extremists. These are your neighbours. And like me, they are tired of being pushed to the edge while government ministers and supermarket bosses grow more disconnected from the realities of land-based life.
Who’s Really Paying the Price?
The price of cheap food is being paid by farmers, rural communities, and future generations.
Fertiliser prices have more than doubled in five years
Feed costs continue to rise—while the price I get for a finished pig has barely moved
Energy and fuel costs are volatile, yet vital to keeping a farm running
This isn’t sustainable. And it isn’t fair.
As farms consolidate and the smaller players disappear, our ability to produce food locally weakens. The FFCC notes that the UK is now only 53% self-sufficient in fresh vegetables—the lowest on record. Meanwhile, corporate consolidation is tightening its grip: a handful of multinationals now dominate everything from seeds and feed to abattoirs and supermarket shelves.
And when farmers do try to go direct to consumer—to cut out the middleman—we face an uphill battle.
That’s why local food hubs are so important. These small, regional systems are a lifeline. At Tamar Valley Food Hubs, for instance, producers get 85p in every pound spent—compared to just 9p on average through the supermarket system. That’s £3.70 in added social, environmental and economic value for every £1 spent.
But these hubs are struggling too. The cost of living crisis has driven consumers back toward cheap food, and without serious investment, many hubs are barely surviving.
We need a radical rethink of what “value” really means.
What Needs to Change?
We can’t keep pretending that the cheapest food is the best choice. As the FFCC argues, we must stop measuring success by how cheap calories are and start asking:
Was this food grown with care for the land?
Did the farmer get a fair price?
Is it nourishing us—or slowly making us sick?
The FFCC recommends bold reforms:
✅ A Food Market Regulator to curb supermarket power and ensure fair pay
✅ Agroecology investment—supporting regenerative, soil-first systems like ours
✅ Better trade rules—to stop a race to the bottom with cheap, low-welfare imports
✅Taxes on ultra-processed food—with funds reinvested into local farming
But these policies are only part of the solution. The government isn’t coming to save us—they’re part of the problem.
So what can you do?
What You Can Do Right Now
This crisis won’t be fixed by farmers alone. We need you—consumers, readers, communities—to take a stand with us.
Shop local when you can. Just one swap a week—your eggs, your veg, your pork—makes a difference.
Support campaigns like Riverford’s #GetFairAboutFarming and Farms Not Factories—they’re putting real pressure on policy-makers and supermarket giants.
Try a nationwide food hub. If you're short on local options, explore ethical producers through Pipers Farm, Riverford, or the Big Barn map to discover local farmers near you.
Talk about it. Share this post. Share a farmer’s story. Push back against the myth that cheap food is “good” food.
Every time you choose a local, fair, transparent supply chain, you vote for a future where farming works for people, not profit.
Let’s Keep the Conversation Going
If you’ve made it this far—thank you. Writing this blog is part of how I’m fighting for the future of our farm, our food, and our family.
Right now, we’re still waiting for a planning decision that could make or break our future in farming. If we lose the farm, I’ll be shifting toward launching an online farm education platform—because sharing knowledge and connecting people to real food production has never been more important.
This blog is more than words on a page. It’s the foundation for that next step, whatever it looks like. If you find value in what I’m building here, I’d be incredibly grateful if you subscribed or shared this post with someone who might care about the future of British food.
Farming shouldn’t be a fight—but right now, it is.
Let’s keep talking.
Helen
🐷 Me, My Pigs and I
This is a powerful and honest piece, thank you for writing it. The way you reflect on your relationship with food and farming is really thought-provoking. I do find myself torn, though, when it comes to the conversation around the true cost of cheap food. With the cost of living so high, it can feel uncomfortable to question affordability. But at the same time, I completely agree that our food system is broken. It's exploitative, opaque, and in need of deep reform. We need a system that is not just more ethical, but also fairer and more transparent for everyone, from producers to consumers. Pieces like this are an important part of that conversation.
These issues are so important, that I think they should be taught in schools. Even our grandchildren who live in a rural county are under educated about where their food comes from. One other reason is obviously the low income that working class people struggle to survive on. I'm sure they would love to eat better quality food, but are conditioned to think it's expensive