03/27/2026
An inconvenient truth about convenience.
Small family farms don’t have a place in the modern day supply that is driven by economies of scale, consolidation and logistics.
It’s like trying to bang square pegs through round holes. Small farms aren’t what big processors and retailers want. The supply chain is driven to streamline everything to cut costs and maximise margins.
Those with a few acres of veg, rearing a dozen head of cattle a year, producing 500 litres of milk a day, aren’t wanted. And even if they were, they couldn’t survive the relentless pressure to deliver more for less.
You might say, “So does it really matter if we lose these small farms? They don’t produce much anyway”. But the answer is yes it does matter.
Every time we lose another small, family farms our food choices diminish and the farming becomes all about mass production of standardised food, on an industrial scale.
This transition towards industrial farming is already happening. According to 2023 data from the National Pig Association (NPA) 90% of UK pig production is slaughtered and processed by just 4 major players.
Giants like Cranswick and Pilgrims UK operate integrated supply chains through which they control pig breeding and genetics, rearing and finishing regimes, feed supply and slaughter and processing. With some also controlling retailing through supplying UK retailers directly exporting meat to overseas markets.
This streamlining and consolidation of our food supply into the hands of corporate giants affects other foods too.
Buying at least some of the food you need and want from small family farms on our website, won’t reverse this trend but it may just help to buy us the time to make everyone aware of what’s happening, before it’s too late.
Even if you have already visited our website map, please take another look and, if you still can’t a farmer selling direct near you, remember a number further afield will deliver nationwide.
Visit www.produceandprovide.co.uk
