Sir; The prices charged for fresh vegetables at Tesco in Mickleover, Derby, are extortionate. For instance, the potatoes which I bought cost me £1.79 a kilo. According to the label they were Maris Piper. This equates to a price of £1,790 a tonne and yet the quoted price for Maris Piper grade 1 potatoes ex-farm is between £180 and £310 a tonne. I concede that Tesco has grading and packaging costs, but how can it justify a price hike of around £1,400 a tonne, assuming that packaging and distribution costs do not exceed £70-£80 a tonne. The Evesham wholesale price for broad beans is 10p a lb. I make this to be about 25p a kilo and yet I was charged £1.09 a kilo. I find it incredibly greedy of Tesco to take a profit of 84p a kilo. Surely it cannot be considered morally sound that a farmer who takes all the risks should take no less than a quarter of its final price? WJ Spalton Hadley Hill Farm Sutton on the HIll Derby - A Tesco spokesman responds: We do not recognise many of the figures quoted by Mr Spalton and would suggest that there are huge variations in quality which are reflected in the price. The prices he quotes do not appear to represent the quality of product that we sell at Tesco. Mr Spalton is of course right to point out additional packaging and distribution costs.' {{LETTERS }}

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