Ahead of the biggest grocery spend of the year for Christmas, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has appealed to consumers to support local farmers when doing their shopping.

Market research organisation, Kantar, estimates that €1.25 billion will be spent in December, with tomorrow (Friday, December 23) the busiest grocery shopping day of the year before Christmas Day on Sunday.

President of the IFA, Tim Cullinan said: “Christmas Day is a special time for families to gather together and celebrate. The Christmas Day dinner is the centrepiece of the day and using the best of Irish produce will enhance the experience.”

IFA president Tim Cullinan emissions
IFA president Tim Cullinan

Support local farmers

As part of IFA’s online Christmas campaign ‘Support Local Farmers this Christmas’, Tim Cullinan encouraged consumers to look for and choose the Bord Bia Quality Assured (QA) logo when buying their groceries.

“The QA logo means that the food you buy has been produced and processed by members of Bord Bia schemes and are audited on a continuous basis on farm right through to the final processing & packing,” Cullinan said.

The IFA president acknowledged that food prices had risen, but he maintained that Irish food is very good value given the quality and standard of what farmers produce.

“Costs have also risen for farmers, so we would appreciate as much support as possible from consumers when they shop over Christmas,” he continued.

“We know they value locally-produced food and filling the basket with QA produce is the best way to show that.”