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IFA warns more growers will leave sector without supply chain regulation

Photo via Magda Ehlers from Pexels

"This level of squeeze on farmers cannot continue,” said IFI president Tim Cullinan

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Horticulture

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18 May 2023

The Irish Farmers Association has warned that field vegetable growers will continue to leave the sector “unless the government regulates our food chain and retailers.”

“There was never a more urgent need for the Food Regulator to be in place to ensure fairness and transparency,” said IFA president Tim Cullinan.

“Fewer than 100 commercial field vegetable growers are left. More will leave.”

“This has been promised in the programme for government and must now be delivered by the Minister for Agriculture,” he said. “The primary function of this legislation is to protect the most vulnerable in the food production chain.

Cullinan added: “Farmers are financially worse off today than they were 18 months ago, and this is borne out in the CSO data.

“The CSO data shows that in 2022 Agricultural Output prices rose by 26.4%, but this was eclipsed by farm input prices rising by 34.7%.

“Despite higher prices for farmers, our margins were eroded with our Terms of Trade reducing by 6.2%. Even more worrying, the latest CSO data shows that input prices on farms have fallen by 0.9% in February 2023, but farm output prices fell by more at 3.9%. This level of squeeze on farmers cannot continue,” he said.

IFA has sought an urgent meeting with Minister Neale Richmond to discuss the food chain.

 

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