The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine will meet with the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) at 5:30p.m today (Wednesday, June 28), to discuss horticulture grower numbers and the changes needed for the sector.
The chair of the committee, Deputy Jackie Cahill said that the sector faces “many challenges”.
“The Irish fruit and vegetable sector is currently worth in excess of €500 million and is anticipated to grown by 30% in the coming years.
“However, the horticultural sector faces many challenges, including the rising cost of production and downward pressure on prices by the retailer,” Deputy Cahill said.
IFA deputy president, Brian Rushe said that in order for the horticultural sector to survive, “radical changes must be implemented”.
“The challenges facing this sector are multi-factorial. The rising cost of production and the dominant position of the retail buyers has resulted in the consolidation of growers over the past decade,” Rushe said.
IFA national fruit and vegetable committee chair Niall McCormack told Agriland that retailers have used fresh produce in particular, as “marketing tools”.
“Retailers may claim that the cost of special promotions is funded by them and while this may be accurate on a short-term basis, the cost of such promotions is built into procurement prices over time.
“It is imperative that the new agri-food regulator addresses these issues with urgency,” he said.
IFA national potato chairman Sean Ryan said below-cost selling/procurement must be prohibited.
“Often below cost priced Irish grown potatoes have been used front-of-shop by some retailers for the past 20 years to lure in consumers.
“The IFA is calling for a ban on the below cost selling/procurement of food and that the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022 be amended in the Seanad to address this,” he added.
Horticulture sector
Vegetable farmers already warned that the sector has had to endure a particularly tough spring and the price that retailers are currently selling produce at does not in any way match the cost of production.
Agriland recently spoke to a number of horticulture farmers who highlighted the pressures of input costs.
“Below-cost selling has to stop. Selling a head of broccoli for 49c is gone, a grower today needs €1.09 to produce a head of broccoli,” Robert Carrick, a broccoli grower from Rush, Co. Dublin said.
Carrick believes there will be a “huge shortage of food in the next five to 10 years” and wants a “fair price” to be given to the farmers.