Farmers and food producers are not profiting from the recent price hikes of burgers and fast food due to "burgerflation", with beef prices down 8% and wheat prices up only 0.3%. According to Consumer Price Index data, beef, bread buns, and bagged salad prices have risen sharply since last summer. Cattle farmer Heather Oldfield and baker Phil Clayton both refute the idea that they are benefiting from the increased costs, citing difficulties in covering their own expenses and ensuring the survival of their businesses. The UK government is investing a record £11.8bn in agriculture, but this has not alleviated the financial pressures faced by farmers like Oldfield.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-21,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
- Published
For many, the smell of charcoal and sizzling meat is the scent of summer.
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smell → publish → summer
However, soaring costs mean a backyard barbecue may no longer be an affordable meal option.
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barbecue → soar → ?
The rising cost of burgers and fast food has been labelled "burgerflation".
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cost → rise → burgers
According to data from the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the prices of beef, bread buns and bagged salad have risen sharply since last summer.
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prices → accord → summer
But does this mean farmers and food producers are earning more?
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farmers → mean → more
We spoke to some of those whose produce could find its way from the farm to your fork.
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The burger
Heather Oldfield, cattle farmer, Boston, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is known as the breadbasket of England due to its output of crops – and it also has a rich tradition of livestock farming.
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Heather Oldfield, who farms cattle near Boston, says her family "want to feed people".
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family → farm → people
The family has 200 animals, which will be sold to Morrison's butchery.
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which → have → butchery
They will make many meat products, including burgers destined for barbecues.
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The latest figures from the Agricultural Price Index (API), for April, show farmers like Oldfield were getting 8% less for their beef on average compared with the previous 12 months.
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farmers → show → months
But shoppers were paying 9% more in May compared with a year before, according to the CPI.
"There's a lot of uncertainty," says Oldfield.
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Oldfield → pay → uncertainty
The mother-of-two says she must cover their costs to ensure the farm survives for her daughters, who want to be farmers.
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who → say → daughters
Oldfield says: "How do we shore the business up into a place that's right for them to come into without saddling them with a lot of debt?"
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them → say → debt
A Defra spokesperson says the government is "backing our hard-working farmers, investing a record £11.8bn – more than any previous government".
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government → say → government
Yet Oldfield is feeling the pressure.
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Oldfield → feel → pressure
She also works full time for a plant breeder because the farm does not generate enough to pay the wages for both her and her husband.
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farm → work → her
The bread bun
Phil Clayton, baker, York, North Yorkshire
"I know I'm not going to be a millionaire running a bakery," says Phil Clayton.
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Clayton → know → bakery
We are speaking in the busy bakery he runs with his wife Tina.
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he → speak → wife
Clayton says it is "absolutely not true" that the bakery enjoys more profit due to price rises.
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bakery → say → rises
In May, families were paying 2% more for bread rolls than they were a year earlier, according to the CPI.
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they → pay → CPI
But in April, farmers were receiving 0.3% less for wheat, the main ingredient, according to API figures.
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farmers → receive → figures
The 2% increase in prices for customers is smaller than the 3% rise seen across the whole CPI index.
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increase → see → index
Clayton says he does not regret increasing his prices by 10p to 20p.
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he → say → 20p
"My responsibility is to make sure all of this lot get paid," he says, referring to his 30-strong team, which includes bakers, delivery drivers and Saturday staff employed in the cafe that adjoins the bakery.
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that → make → bakery
Clayton points out the extra money shoppers pay at the tills goes towards increases in rent, wages, National Insurance, delivery fuel and the rising cost of flour – much of which originates from farms in the region.
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much → point → region
The flour
Robert Archer, mill manager, Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire
Robert Archer says haulage costs have been "a big hit", forcing him to increase the price of the organic flour he mills in North Yorkshire.
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he → say → Yorkshire
"If we stayed at the same price we would be losing money and then we couldn't run the business," he says.
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he → stay → business
The mill buys more than 400 tonnes of wheat from farms in North Yorkshire and East Yorkshire each year.
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mill → buy → Yorkshire
It generates enough flour to feed 20,000 people, he says.
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he → generate → people
The flour is sent to customers, including Phil Clayton's bakery in York.
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flour → send → York
Nelly Trevelyan, the mill's owner, says staying organic helps them to minimise percentage price rises because "we don't have nitrogen fertiliser cost increases [and] we don't use pesticides, so we haven't got those increases".
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we → say → increases
However, she says many people buy what they see as "cheap food" from "the industrial farming system" that uses more intensive methods.
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that → say → methods
The salad
Mathew Brankley, farmer, Snaith, East Yorkshire
Mathew Brankley believes food remains "relatively cheap" in the UK.
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food → believe → UK
"I know that that might sound like a shock," he says.
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he → know → shock
"But if you go to some places over in Europe and the States, the cost of a simple lettuce could be $2.99.
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In the UK, it's retailing at 80p to £1."
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it → retail → 1
According to the API, vegetable growers were receiving 12.6% more for their produce in April compared to 12 months ago.
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growers → accord → April
But in May, shoppers were paying 8% more, according to the CPI.
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shoppers → pay → CPI
Brankley insists he is no better off, explaining any extra money he is being paid for his crops is being "eaten up" by rises in the prices he pays for fuel and fertiliser.
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he → insist → fuel
…and 4 more, not listed.
