Farmers look for fairness in supply chain
Most full time farmers earn a salary of just €13,000, according to IFA President John Bryan, who is adamant that farmers receive their fair share of goods' final price.
Print16 March 2010
Farmers producing everyday food products are operating below break even and on average are just getting one third of the final retail cost of the product, according to the IFA. Speaking at the launch of the document Equity for farmers in the Food Supply Chain in the mansion House in Dublin, John Bryan, IFA president, said farmers must get their fair share of the final consumer price.
He revealed that most full time farmers are on a salary of about €13,000. He said that own brand goods were disguising the producers identity and called on the Tánaiste to curtail the spread of own brand products. The only way to curb these practices, he said, is to introduce a statutory code of practice to govern the sector so that the middleman doesn’t get such a large slice of the pie.
“The new statutory Code of Practice promised by the Government must enshrine the principle of fair trade for farmers in the grocery trade by providing a means for the more equitable share-out of the consumer price across the food chain. The IFA have proposed the retailers should be required to report details of their profitability as well as outlawing practices such as ‘hello money’ and forcing suppliers to fund retail price reductions,” said Mr Bryan. “To police the Code and investigate complaints, the Government must also legislate for an independent Ombudsman, who would have the power to demand information from retailers while maintaining the anonymity and confidentiality of suppliers who make complaints.”
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