IFA president calls on Bruton to make retail prices fairer to farmers

FAIR margins from retail food prices and measures to curb the power of the big supermarket multiples were discussed by Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton and IFA President John Bryan in Dublin last night.

Mr Bryan called on Mr Bruton to prioritise the legislation to give the farmer a fairer share of the price paid by consumer.

At present, consumers pay 33c for an egg which farmers produce for 8c. Consumers pay 15 times the production cost of a chicken. The farmer’s share of the retail price for milk has fallen from 42% in 1996 to 26% in 2009.

Mr Bryan said: “All farmers want is to be able to cover their costs and make a living. The dominance of the supermarkets is forcing farmers to sell below the cost of production, which is not sustainable and is costing jobs. Without effective legislation and strong enforcement, the inequity will remain.”

Mr Bruton will consider last night’s discussions before taking any further action in relation to the widely anticipated new code of practice for Ireland’s retail sector.

The IFA recently prot-ested outside the Dáil over what it saw as inaction on the proposed new code.

Mr Bruton explained that he was taking on board views from other sectors. He was also considering a Competition Authority investigation into milk price fixing, and had to wait for a report on the proposed new code by independent facilitator John Travers.

Mr Bryan said: “The minister must give a firm commitment that legislation contained in the Programme for Government will be prioritised and implemented without further delay. It was very disappointing to see the current legislative list did not contain the Fair Trade Bill that Fine Gael promoted so vigorously in the run-up to the recent general election.

“IFA held a number of meetings with the facilitator, John Travers, in 2010 and we were assured that progress was being made on the introduction of a code of practice and the appointment of an ombudsman. The minister has now received a report from John Travers and we expect him to act quickly.”

There has been an increasing focus at European Commission level and in other member states on retail regulation. The British government has introduced a Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill which seeks to establish an adjudicator to monitor and enforce the groceries supply code of practice.

Mr Bryan added: “All the political parties here accept the imperative of a code of practice that will curb retailer dominance, and have made commit-ments to deliver this. The Government must press ahead with their proposals immediately.”