Farm leader warns on price volatility
ICMSA president John Comer told the 350 farmers at the AGM in Limerick of his increasing concern over whether Food Harvest 2020 will deliver farm profits.
“ICMSA certainly agrees that we can expand output at farm level. Whether that can be done profitably is the issue, and the lack of any meaningful attempt at EU level to deal with extreme price volatility places a huge question mark after all the plans contained in Food Harvest.”
“ ICMSA cer tainly welcomes Commissioner Ciolos’ announcement in September that he intends to establish a market monitoring centre for dairy products. But that can’t be just another ‘cop-out’. We have seen the shambles multiple retailers in Ireland have made of the liquid milk market, and this problem is being replicated across Europe. Politicians across the EU, including our own, have talked tough on this for years, but the reality is that power of the multiples and larger food companies globally continues to grow, and the position of the actual food producer continues to be undermined.
“The large multiples continue to build more stores, gain market share by whatever means, and the other links in the chain continue to pay for this excessive and growing power. It’s as simple as this: hello to another 10 years of multiple dominance of EU food, goodbye to what’s left of EU family farms.”
Addressing AGM guest speaker Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, Mr Comer said, “The Market Monitoring Centre presents the EU, and indeed you minister, with an opportunity to finally address the issue of margins in the food supply chain.
“Our milk suppliers will re-main extremely exposed and remember, our retailers and processors will all survive by passing all the price squeeze back to the last link in the chain, the one that does all of the work, and made all the investment, the farmer.”
He said farm input costs rose 41% from 2008 to 2012, and farm overheads by 18%. He said if farmers are to operate on global markets, they need access to inputs at global prices.
On the collapse of live exporters TLT International, he called for farmers to be made preferential creditors.
Mr Comer condemned the Ireland-UK beef price gap; reiterated ICMSA opposition to cutting SFP to pay for a coupled scheme; and said there is growing anger at rural infrastructure decline.
He described as “patronis-ing” the Eirgrid pylon policy with “the poor culchies” having to deal with a decision already made.
