Producer group ‘the way to go’

Groups of 3,000, 5,000 or 7,000 beef farmers having collective access to a professional body which will negotiate on their behalf, to ensure they achieve the best deal possible in terms of a premium price for their products, is the aim of Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney’s new producer organisations policy.

“That is the type of structural market change we need, as opposed to a vague idea about a regulator without clarity as to what it would actually do, or some notion of changing prices without having any way of doing so,” said the minister during last week’s Dail debate on the agriculture industry.

“The way to improve the negotiating position for primary producers of food is by improving their bargaining capacity with processors and retailers. We will do this effectively through producer organisations,” he said.