Empty Shelves

This is not a surprise of course; this is just another year and Shetland winter, and as the season bursts in we face the familiar scene of empty supermarket shelves.

As soon as we get a whisper of a storm on the wind, we all seem to flock to the supermarkets and furiously clear the shelves, a sort of strange instinct kicks in where we think we desperately need six loaves of bread, ten bags of onions and four whole chickens or we may not survive the week.

As we empty the shelves, the supermarkets gladly accept our money as we frantically thrust it into their outstretched hands, happily profiting from our panic.

It is a well-choregraphed dance that happens each year, as the shelves empty and the boats no longer run, no more stock is delivered from south so the shelves remain barren and we get the standard response “well if people didn’t panic buy there would still be stock on the shelves”.

Which I guess to a point is true, but it’s a catch-22, people panic because they know the food on the shelves comes up from south, if we are cut off from the mainland, there is no food – albeit the storm would normally pass in a few days and the boats run again.

We are just the victims of a broken food system.

Now the food system has been broken for decades but we have only very recently been hearing about it, particularly during the lockdowns of 2020 as the covid pandemic brought the world to its knees.

With island living I think the national food system issues are brought more to light. I could write many articles in detail about this, and to properly explain such a complex issue would likely need to be several very long articles, but there is already a local councillor highlighting this fact quite publicly.

I only really need to briefly discuss two linked key points for this article, which are: a globalised food system and supermarket buying power.

Now I am very grateful for a globalised food system, I love spices, citrus, chocolate and all these wonderful things that come from more exotic places, but I am not sure people realise how much we rely on other countries to feed us.

To understand this more, I want you to think about how many countries you rely on for breakfast.

What do I mean by this?

Well let’s take an example of a cheap fried breakfast served with a cup of coffee. Your coffee has most likely travelled from Brazil or Columbia, the pork in your sausages and bacon are quite likely from Denmark, the tomatoes have probably been shipped from the south of Spain or Morocco, the mushrooms are from Poland, the ingredients to make the baked beans have travelled from at least 5 countries (USA, Spain, Morocco, Mexico and Brazil), the wheat in your toast could be from Canada (although likely would have been Ukraine or Russia last year), and who knows where your eggs are coming from now.

You have relied on at least ten different countries, and you have only just woken up.

Talking about eggs, this is where our next point comes in, supermarket buying power.

There has been a lot of talk around the egg shortage. This has been mostly brought about due to supermarkets refusing to pay the British farmers what they are asking for their eggs. Why they are asking for more money links back to that globalised food system.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a catalyst to a waiting energy crisis but another blow to those raising animals is the increased cost of cereal for feed. Russia and Ukraine supply a quarter of the worlds wheat so when the war broke out the price of animal feed soared.

On top of this there has been an avian flu outbreaks which has caused even more costs to farmers.

It makes sense that they would be asking for more money, the cost of production has increased, therefore the product price must do so too. And product price has certainly increased on the supermarket shelves, but this price hike has not been reflected in what is being paid to the producer.

Supermarkets are trying to offer a minimal increase which in some cases is not even covering the cost of production.

How they can do this is due to their power over the farmer, no one other than supermarkets have the customer base to warrant egg order quantity in the hundreds of thousands, if the farmers don’t shift the egg stock quick enough and they rot, that is money lost.

An order from a supermarket to a farm, particularly any small farm, may seem a great opportunity but the supermarkets expect high volume of product at a low price, it can be so hard for a farmer to compete and make a living.

With the British egg farmers all refusing to take the lower prices you would think there the farmers have finally shifted the balance of power but instead we see supermarkets looking to source globally rather than cave to the higher prices.

When comparing the local shop prices to the prices at the supermarket it is that buying power that makes all the difference.

The small local shop does not have the buying power to set an unbelievably low price to producers which would be reflected in a low price to consumers for fresh goods. However, your local shop is slightly more shielded from the supply chain issues that each winter brings because often they deal with local producers rather than national and global markets.

When there were no fresh vegetables, except from a sad mouldering cabbage on the supermarket shelves during the storm: Scoop had a plentiful selection from Turriefield, Bigton community shop boasted a selection of fresh produce including Ness tatties and MacKenzies Farm shop had a selection of veg from their own farm and from beyond. When the bread and bakery aisles in the supermarkets were bare, Sandwick baking co, Waas Bakery, Skibhoul and Voe Bakery were all still churning out delicious loaves, cakes, and all kinds of bakes, supplying all the local shops to make sure you got the fresh bread you needed.

When there was no meat to be found in the supermarket, Uradale Farm were making trips to scoop to restock the fridges there with fantastic beef and lamb, Sound butchers, Andersons, the traditional butcher and Scalloway meat co were all making sure your local shops were stocked with chops, sausages, burgers, sassermaet and roasts, all the meat you could need to get you through a cold stormy week.

Your local shop will always have a stock of fresh Shetland Dairies milk for the essential morning tea and coffee and if we were ever to be cut off long enough for coffee supplies to dwindle, Bigton and Scoop should have you covered with a bag or two of Blyde Welcome Coffee.

In terms of seafood, while the weather may disrupt the supply chain to the mainland for Shetland there are plenty of Salmon, mussels, and white fish to go around. Eggs can be found from local producers like Hensington Palace in your local but also don’t forget that classic Shetland institution of the Honesty box, which may have a whole host of fresh goodies from eggs, homegrown vegetables and lovingly made cakes.

Your local shop will always have your store cupboard essentials available, and yes it will be at a higher price than what you would be able to buy at a supermarket, but they will normally have it there if you need it.

These little local food systems are something to be supported, developed further and cherished. Thank goodness for the local producer, honesty box and local shop for without them, when the wind blows, we would be stuck.