THE Fair Trade campaign seems to be taking a small hold over some of the media and the conversation of some shoppers, even if it is not yet affecting their purses much.

The movement aims to get more of the end price of the goods sold in the shops to the original producer. The main thrust of the effort springs from the belief that the farmer producing, for example, coffee, is not getting enough of the final retail price.

Coffee is an interesting example. Not all that long ago the world-wide market for coffee was worth around £30 billion. Of that the coffee producer obtained £10 billion as his share.

The market for coffee has grown rapidly. There are few high streets in any town which do not have their coffee shops. Big towns have their chains. Little towns have individual coffee houses. Not all of them are successful, but the market has grown tremendously. It is now worth about £60 billion.

It would be reasonable to assume that all this is good news for the coffee farmer. Many of them live in poverty in the third world and one would think that the expansion of the market could not but be a good idea. Not a bit of it. The amount of money now getting back to the farmer is about £5.5 billion.

They clearly have room for complaint. The traders and manufacturers, not to mention the shippers and retailers, argue that they have expenses as well. This is no doubt true, but this particular playing field does not seem, at first sight, to be particularly level. Or am I missing something?

The problem is that the proportion of the retail price getting back to primary producers in many major commodities all over the world is far from adequate.

This applies just as much to UK producers as it does to those from abroad. This year has been a disaster for many of those of us who produce potatoes. I did hear of one case where a merchant would not take potatoes for £1 per tonne. I have not noticed any dramatic drop in any sort of retail price.

We produce potatoes to be turned into crisps. We are paid a contract price, dependent on quality bonuses, of between £70 and £80 per tonne. The price of crisps at our local supermarket is £1.29 for six packets. Each packet weighs 31.8 grams. I calculate that the price of crisps is £6,761 per tonne. I know very well that there are a huge number of processes, some of them expensive, through which the potato goes to become a crisp. I still think that within that retail price, there should be room perhaps to increase the farmer's price by say £7 per tonne. I do not think that it would make all that much difference to the crisp industry. It would make a tremendous difference to the farmer. It might keep him in business.

I could go on, giving similar examples in the case of many items produced by farmers throughout the world.

The Government's attitude seems to be that if UK farmers cease growing certain crops, they can be imported. This is true. The question then becomes, at what price?

The euro has appreciated in value against the pound, by about 15 per cent over the last few weeks. Most food is bought in dollars and the movement there has not been so dramatic. Who is to say that it will not be in the future? The food industry, from the farmer onward, is not noted for absorbing price increases. They are passed on. Where does this particular buck stop?

Updated: 10:29 Tuesday, March 11, 2003