IN last week’s letter about the milk crisis, Sir Eric Howells said the housewife has the last word on food prices. She does not. Prices are decided by supermarket directors/CEOs, their only concern is to protect their jobs by making big profits for their shareholders. None of them have any care about their suppliers, the continuation of supplies or the good of the country in the future.

He rightly said pig and poultry farming have long gone and that the same will happen to milk – all farming, in fact.

Because criminally irresponsible politicians and officials in the last 40 years have systematically ended all protection of the food supply that sensible people had introduced – for very good reasons that are more valid now than ever.

Protection for milk was started in 1933 because of ruthless exploitation that has restarted because protection was ended in the early 1990s.

Protection for meat, eggs, potatoes and other subsidies were started in 1947, because the then population of about 40 million had nearly starved – this ended in the early 1970s.

Now the 63 million, and rising fast, are deliberately being made dependant on imported food. Prices will rocket as foreign suppliers will be able to charge what they like – it is also obvious there are going to be world food shortages. Supermarkets have a virtual monopoly of food sales and will pass their price increases onto the housewife – she will not have any say at all.

This is partly what I wrote to Paul Davies AM, enclosed is a copy of his reply. It appears politicians still don’t understand what a disaster is fast coming to the country.

Response from Paul Davies AM: ‘Thank you for your recent letter regarding the farming industry, the contents of which I have noted.

I have every sympathy with your concerns and you have made some valid points regarding bureaucracy and over-regulation of the agricultural industry.

As a son of a small-farming family and having married into another farming family, I too wish to protect the small family farm. However, I have to disagree with your overall assessment regarding my party’s stewardship of the agricultural industry over the last few decades. Of course you would not expect me to agree with comments on this, and I’m afraid we are going to have to agree to disagree.’

C V CATEAUX

Goodwick