Farmers want a ban on the below-cost selling of food

IFA President said similar rules should be in place for food as there is for alcohol

IFA President Tim Cullinan addressing the 67th Annual General Meeting of the Irish Farmers Association in the Mansion house in Dublin today where he warned against creating a global food emergency from trying to solve the climate emergency. Picture: Finbarr O'Rourke

The President of the Irish Farmer's Association said a ban on the below-cost selling of food similar to the one introduced for alcohol should be introduced immediately as he hit out at Ireland's retailers saying they are pushing food producers to the "brink of wipeout".

Speaking at the IFA's AGM in Dublin today Tim Cullinan said such a ban should form part of the upcoming legislation that will see the appointment of Ireland's first food regulator.

“There is now a law banning below-cost selling of alcohol. We need the same for food. This needs to be part of the food regulator legislation," he said.

He criticised the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue for delays in creating the role which Cullinan said would protect farmers.

“You have to wonder what does it take to rein in the retailers? Retailers who did very well in the last two years, but who seem to have a grip on Government policy that could bring fairness to the food chain.“

"Retailers who have pushed our pig, poultry, horticulture and liquid milk sectors to the brink of wipeout. Food prices in Ireland have fallen every year from 2014 to 2020. This is unsustainable," the IFA President said. 

Mr Cullinan said he has met horticulture producers recently “and their situation is horrific. Many are planning to stop producing,” he said.

“But the retailers keep turning the screw, using food as a loss leader. It seems they don’t care if all our growers go out of business."

Mr Cullinan told the association’s 67th annual general meeting that a review of the Association’s structures will be initiated this year in a bid to attract new people to take on roles in the IFA.

“We must have an efficient structure that makes the best use of the time officers give to our association,” he said. “We cannot be afraid of change.”

Asked about the organisation's structure he said: “We cannot be afraid of change.” When asked by the Irish Examiner to elaborate on what this review will entail, Mr Cullinan said “our association has been around now since 1955” and that it’s “seen in the last two years the way we had to adopt like everybody else using technology and bringing change about”.

“Any association that’s around that long, it’s important we go back and look at our structures, see how we’re doing our business, become more efficient, use more technology into the future and get us in a better place for the next 20, 30 years,” he said.

“We have 74,000 voting members in our organisation, and we want to protect that.” He said that the stage of progress the review is currently at is that “we’ve made the decision”.

“For now, we have to sit down and develop the plan around what structures we are going to look at, I can’t give detail today because this is evolving.” He said in the coming weeks, him and his officers will be “expanding” on the matter.

Mr Cullinan today acknowledged that it was “positive” to see the association return to a financial surplus in 2021, with the latest accounts to March 31, 2021 showing that the association recorded an operational surplus of €1,790,140.

Climate action and emissions targets dominated Mr Cullinan’s opening speech and briefing session with the media this afternoon. “Since our last AGM, we now have a new Climate Act on the statute books.

“Flowing from that, we have emissions ceilings for all sectors.” Agriculture has been allocated a reduction range of between 22%-30%.

Mr Cullinan said that there has been “a lot of hard work” done by the IFA lobbying on this issue “to ensure that agriculture was not saddled with an unfair burden”.

“While our ceiling may be lower than other sectors, it will be extremely challenging,” he said.

“We must remember that our emissions come from food production. They must be regarded differently from those in other sectors.

“Climate policy around the world is now impacting on food production. Other EU member states are taking drastic action to reduce their output.

“Yet, our global population is due to increase from 7.5 billion today to 10 billion by 2030.

“We all accept we have a climate emergency, but we now risk creating a global food emergency.” He said that “too many policy decisions” in Europe and around the world “don’t have a proper analysis of the consequences”.

“The EU Farm to Fork is a classic example of this. A policy being launched and slipped in through the back door,” he said.

“Global climate policy treats every country as a silo, but there is a lack of joined-up thinking on food.

“Not every country can produce its own food. We are fortunate that our island is an ideal location to produce food.

“We should celebrate this, nurture it, and continue to develop our sector. Global demand for our main commodities is growing.” He said that people will need more food - “but the EU and our Government want us to produce less”, he claimed, and this is “short-sighted”.

“More people will need more food,” he continued.

“This policy will have to change in the years ahead. Food will have to be a bigger priority.

“Irish farmers will be needed more than ever.” He said that Ireland must “strike the right balance between environmental, economic and social sustainability”.

“The emphasis must be on reducing emissions, not reducing output,” Cullinan said.

“There’s a big focus in the next CAP on the new agri-environment scheme. I want to put down a marker here today: this scheme has to work for productive farmers.

“And the money cannot leak to service providers. It must stay with farmers.

“The CAP is no longer supporting food production. The emphasis is now on environmental measures.