With rumours of a global food crisis ahead and harvesting yields in the UK down last year as a result of poor weather conditions and flooding, a moral panic is being stirred up by worldwide media and environmental groups and prices are being driven up.

However, south Lincolnshire farmers say the wholesale cost of the produce they sell has little effect upon supermarket prices, but at least there is promise for a good harvest this year.

Whaplode Drove farmer Ian Stancer said: "Wholesale prices of commodities going up has a minimal effect on the price of a loaf of bread in real terms as the cost of the raw materials in bread are a relatively small proportion of its retail price.

"The rest of the increases are down to marketeering and profiteering on the part of the retailers.

"The current situation is that farmgate prices are easing down on the strength of increased plantings and better prospects due to favourable growing conditions.

"Last summer's bad weather is still affecting soil structure and could limit production severely in places if we have a prolonged period of drought, but recent warm showery weather has helped otherwise backward crops to catch up and look a lot better."

The poor weather last summer saw Winter wheat production at Grays Farm at Tongue End between 25 to 30 per cent down and sugar beet 15 per cent down, but farmer Julian Davis believes food retailers take advantage of situations like this.

He said: "Experience from the past generally shows that when anything affects or is likely to affect the supply of food, retailers capitalise on the situation by increasing prices more than their additional costs.

"They then blame everyone else in the supply chain, claiming that they are just passing on the extra costs."