90% of consumers want farmers protected from below-cost selling

Almost 90% of consumers would welcome legislation protecting farmers against below-cost selling, according to an Agri Aware survey.

The research, carried out for Agri Aware by Ipsos MRBI, also found that three in five people say selling below-cost vegetables will not benefit the consumer in the long term.

Agri Aware chairman Bernard Donohue said: “Retailers must realise and take on board what the consumer wants. The below-cost selling of food will leave both consumers and the primary producer as the long-term losers.