Scarborough and Whitby MP explains effect of McDonald's closure on farmers and McCain Foods

The outbreak of the virus has impacted on every sector in the UK, including farming.

Mr Goodwill, a farmer since 1979, has been in talks with the president of the National Farmers Union (NFU) to discuss the effect the virus was having on farmers in his constituency.

Potato farmers have been particularly impacted by the closure of the hospitality sector such as fish and chip shops and by a drop in demand from McCain Foods.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board estimates 188,576 tonnes of chipping potatoes have been impacted by market closures.

He said: “McCain Foods supplies roughly a third to retail, a third to food service and a third to McDonalds.

“The price for potatoes has crashed, in some instances those potatoes that are used for chips are around £50 a tonne whereas those that can be used for crisps are at £200 a tonne.”

Mr Goodwill said he had discussed with the NFU president his desire for McDonald’s to open up at least their Drive Thru outlets, which present the least challenge in terms of maintaining social distancing.

The NFU say: “[We are] aware that the closure of McDonalds is having an impact on the supply into McCains, and growers have been approached with a voluntary request to reduce their cropping area.

“Growers are encouraged to carefully check their contracts and contact NFU CallFirst if they have concerns.”

The continued closure of McDonald’s has the potential to affect more than just potato farmers, the MP said.

Around one third of beef produced in Ireland is sold to the fast food chain, leading to worries that if it doesn’t reopen soon shops may be flooded with product from Ireland.

Mr Goodwill said: “My worry would be that Irish beef will find its way on to supermarket shelves and British farmers will have to compete on price.”

The MP said whilst many dairies in the South West of England who supply milk to the catering industry have suffered due to lockdown restrictions, those across North Yorkshire are faring better as most supply directly to Arla, based in Leeds.

Last weekend, the NFU was successful in securing support from Government for dairy farmers affected by the outbreak, which has seen the loss of demand for around eight million litres of milk a week due to the closure of food service and hospitality outlets.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you