Zack Polanski says 7p carrots are too cheap. But is it hurting farmers or addressing food poverty?

Supermarkets should charge more for vegetables, Zack Polanski has said – because ultra-cheap produce “is not a sign of a healthy system”. 

In a speech at Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union conference, the Green Party leader called for tougher regulation of supermarkets and more support for farmers adapting to climate change. 

“I was thinking of a friend of mine the other day – who I’m not judging for this, I understand, but they were really excited that they were buying vegetables for 7p in one of the supermarkets,” he told conference attendees.

“That is not a sign of a healthy system… someone is being exploited somewhere and if you are paying 7p for vegetables then something is not right.”

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The Green Party leader was pilloried in the right-leaning press for the statement, with one publication deriding his “war on carrots.” 

But the Big Issue spoke to farmers – and, turns out, they broadly agree. Hannah Lamb, a farmer in Doncaster, runs a small community supported agriculture scheme providing vegetables to the local community. 

She “completely understands” why people are drawn to cheap veg. Her husband is the incoming chair of the local food bank, and there is “massive food poverty around our area.”

“We want to provide good quality nutritious food for the people around us,” she tells Big Issue. “But we’re also aware that people can’t always afford the prices we should be charging.”

Trussell distributed nearly three million emergency food parcels last year and more than 14 million Brits faced food insecurity. Cheap veg can mean the difference between someone getting their five-a-day or going without.

Nonetheless, charging seven pence for a bag of vegetables means someone both the natural world and the farm “take a hit”, Lamb warned.

“The supermarkets aren’t losing profits – they will be able to take a hit on the vegetables because they’re making money on their luxury products, all their ready meals, that side of things,” she said. 

“To actually grow a carrot that is anywhere near that cost, you are having to use large scale agricultural practices that are not supporting the soil and ecosystems and biodiversity, and you’re exploiting workers. Ultimately somebody is not getting paid well to produce that food.”

The carrots are an example of a ‘loss leader.’ Supermarkets will temporarily discount produce in order to draw shoppers in. But it gives an unrealistic sense of what produce actually costs to produce, the National Farmers Union have warned.

While it’s good to “drive sales”, such deals risk “long-term impacts on the public’s perception of true market value and production costs,” said NFU President Tom Bradshaw. 

“As an industry we need to drive investment to deliver for future food security and the British people who truly value high-quality, homegrown food. A crucial part of that is a fair and transparent market, where farmers and growers can get fair returns for the risk and capital invested.” 

On the morning that she spoke to Big Issue, Hannah and her team were out planting carrot seeds that they’ll harvest in autumn and include in their Christmas veg boxes.

The land has been fallow since September, when they planted a cover crop to “bring nutrients” into the soil. The team had to terminate the cover crop, till it in, then sow in the new seeds. 

“They’ll then need weeding and watering and looking after before we hand harvest them ready for Christmas,” she said. “7p for a bag doesn’t cover the cost of the seeds alone, let alone the work that goes into it.”

Low pricing strategies should not be funded by unsustainable farmgate prices, the union warned. The UK imports nearly half its fresh vegetables, around 2.2 million tonnes annually. 

Supermarkets can pay overseas producers less, said Suzy Russell, the network coordinator at Community Supported Agriculture UK.

“The food is imported more cheaply than it can be grown here, because in other countries there are fewer rules about the environment,” she said. “And people are being paid really, really low wages to produce that food in other countries, because labour standards are lower.

“As soon as you start thinking about that and the long-term costs of the way we’re producing food, I mean, Zak Polanski is absolutely right.”

In an open letter last year, 46 MPs called on supermarkets to buy British and to pay farmers more. Supermarkets made a £5 billion profit in 2024, while a typical 200 acre (81 hectare) family farm could only expect to bring in about £27,300 after expenses and taxes.

British fruit and veg producers are already stretched by increasing fuel, electricity and fertiliser due to the war in the Middle East.  About a third of the global seaborne trade in fertilisers passes through the Strait of Hormuz, and prices have surged around 45%. 

Earlier this year, the Andersons Centre, a UK-based agricultural consultancy and research firm, warned of a “cost of farming squeeze”. 

So is the answer to pay farmers more? Simply charging more for vegetables isn’t an easy way to do this. For a lot of families, it’s a choice between a 7p bag of veg and no veg.

Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, said that promotions on fruit and vegetables “help support customers to eat a healthy and affordable diet”.

“Where harvests have been strong, offering discounts can help boost sales and ensure quality fruit and vegetables do not go to waste. As the cost of living continues to bite for many households we should be celebrating discounts like these.”

Campaigners instead call for the redistribution to come from supermarket profits. The mammoth profit margins from last year suggest there’s room to redistribute without touching the price on the shelf.

But regulating supermarket profits and passing the savings onto customers is easier said than done. Earlier this year, chancellor Rachel Reeves urged supermarkets to cap the price of 100 everyday staple foods.

In his speech at the union, Polanski described supermarkets as “a sector that has not been regulated enough.”

“It has been exploiting both the workers in the supermarkets and the farmers and agricultural workers and, yes, sometimes the people who are suffering from the cost-of-living crisis too.”

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