IT WILL come as no surprise to farmers that they see little return from what the consumer pays for a basket of goods in the supermarket, but a new survey by the NFU shows that only 26 per cent of retail prices reach the pockets of producers.

Shoppers for the NFU bought baskets of goods from a range of shops and found that for a basket containing £37 worth of farmed good such as beef, eggs, bread, milk, tomatoes and apples, farmers got only £11 at the farm gate.

Beef farmers get 26 per cent of final sale value, sheep farmers get 49 per cent for their lamb and dairy farmers get 25 per cent.

But, some sectors get less that one quarter of the retail value.

For instance, cereal farmers get only eight per cent of the price of a loaf of bread in spite of the fact that wheat is the main ingredient.

Pig farmers get only 14 per cent of the price of bacon.

The study was done as part of the NFU Farming Counts campaign which aims to raise awareness of the industry' s problems and show people why the industry matter and was launched at last week's Westmorland County Show.

NFU president Ben Gill said: "This enormous price discrepancy shows clearly why farmers are having such a difficult time with many not even recouping the cost of production."