Farmers need EU backing to tackle power of retailers, conference told

FARMERS need European Union backing to achieve greater balance in their dealings with the large multiple retailers, IFA president John Bryan told EU authorities at yesterday’s COPA conference in Brussels.

Mr Bryan said that only a well-funded CAP post-2013 and revisions to EU retail regulations would give farmers a stronger income and a fairer slice of profits from retail food sales.

The IFA chief cited Tesco, which yesterday announced overall group sales of €38 billion for the first six months of 2010, up 8.3% compared with the same period last year.