Tillage farmers claim Glanbia pricing lags behind competitors
However, Glanbia strongly defended what it described as its competitive prices and pledged to continue supporting growers.
Irish Farmers Association president Eddie Downey accused Glanbia of short-changing tillage farmers on this year’s prices.
He said this has vexed growers, given the very difficult income situation they face.
“Growers expect some solidarity from Glanbia this year as they struggle to pay off bills and meet their costs,” he said.
Grain farmers are being short-changed by @GlanbiaPlc https://t.co/SPHKQyXYwH pic.twitter.com/m61TINm2dZ
— Irish Farmers' Association (@IFAmedia) November 9, 2015
“The board and management have to look again at the grain prices paid this harvest.”
Glanbia Agribusiness chief executive, Colm Eustace, said he appreciated the challenging situation facing growers, but the prices represented an optimistic view of the prevailing markets.
Over 40% of Glanbia’s total intake now attracts some level of premium or bonus, worth around €2m in total to growers, compared to equivalent non-contracted grains.
This is a far higher proportion of overall grain contracted than any other merchant in the country, said Mr Eustace.
