A farmer on Countryfile was nearly conned out of 24 tonnes of potatoes by genuine scammers. A classic too good to be true purchase order, fake paperwork, the lot. He spotted it just in time. But the moment he mentioned the value, 24 tonnes for £11k, it set off a different thought entirely.
If real criminals are trying to steal produce for free, who are the everyday operators quietly skimming their way to a tidy profit without ever breaking the law? Run the numbers. 24 tonnes is 24,000 kilos. Eleven grand divided by that works out at about 46p a kilo. That is what the farmer gets for the stuff he grows, stores, insures, fuels, harvests and shoulders all the risk for. Forty six pence.
Now compare that with what you hand over in the shops, 83p a kilo at the low end, wandering up towards £2 in many places. That is an 80 to 330 percent markup for the privilege of buying exactly the same crop, merely washed, bagged and placed under flattering lighting with a fake farm name on it.
And that is what got me thinking. The scammers on Countryfile were amateurs. Their con was crude, obvious once spotted, and over as soon as the farmer put the phone down. The everyday version is far more elegant. It is built into the system. It comes with barcodes, loyalty points and a wholesome poster of a smiling farmer who, in reality, is getting less than half the retail price for the goods he produces.
So yes, beware of scammers trying to lift 24 tonnes of potatoes for free. But spare a moment for the everyday sleight of hand that takes far more value out of British farming than any gang of chancers ever could. The real trick is hiding a three digit percentage margin in plain sight and calling it a supply chain.
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