Farmers take to Dover to protest against cheap imports for second week
Tractor drivers are staging a demonstration in a supermarket car park
Dozens of tractor drivers are descending on Dover for a second week as they protest against cheap food imports.
Over 20 tractors have been parked in the car park of a Tesco Extra in Whitfield, close to Dover, in an effort to "win over" the British public and raise awareness of the current plight that farmers face.
Farmers are concerned that the lower cost of food being imported from places such as the EU poses a threat to the food security in the UK, mostly due to the unfair treatment of British famers.
This is the second protest in two weeks from protestors, after tractor drivers embarked on a go-slow campaign to the Port of Dover, causing disruption for motorists on both sides of the Channel.
Ahead of the protest, which is taking place on Saturday (February 17th), Jeff Gibson - a potato farmer who is taking part in the demonstration - said that sustainability is the main concern.
"British farmers can't compete with cheap foreign imports and we're going to be left in a situation where we cannot feed the British public," Jeff said in an interview with FarmingBritain.tv.
"The biggest problem we're going to face as an industry and the British public in future years is, what happens in the next crisis, what happens in the next Covid, what happens in the next Ukraine war? We need to make people realise that food security in this country is really under threat.
"If nothing is done, if the Government trade deals go through, we're going to have points in the future, when the UK's supermarket shelves are empty and they're going to be empty for a long time," he finished.
Those who are taking part in the car park demonstration are hoping to speak to curious shoppers in an effort to tell them their side of the story and curry favour from the British public.
Gibson, from eastern Kent, explained that the farmers goal was not to be "tearing up motorways" or "spreading Government buildings in manure", but instead to protest peacfully.
Farmers are disgruntled about the quality of food imports coming into the country, which they feel undercuts the quality of British-made produce.
"We do everything we can as an industry to produce the highest standards of food and welfare in the world, and we feel that's being eroded away by terrible Brexit deals, a complete and utter lack of empathy from the UK Government and the supermarkets for the way they treat British farmers," Gibson added.
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