Farmers call for 'fake farm' brand names to be prohibited

The IFA's campaign against the branding policy by retailers was expanded in 2021 to highlight food products that use fictitious names of farms, dairies, creameries, and bakeries.

The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has called for the use of “fake farm” brand names by retailers to be prohibited in Ireland, claiming that “fictional” farms only have the effect of “misleading” consumers.

IFA president Tim Cullinan said shoppers may interpret these farms “as being of local origin, which may not be the case”.

The IFA’s campaign against the branding policy by retailers was expanded in 2021 to highlight food products that use fictitious names of farms, dairies, creameries, and bakeries.

Mr Cullinan said at the time that retailers are using their own brands “to drive down the prices they pay to their suppliers”.

“These brands displace well-established ones that return a higher margin to farmers,” he said.

“These products come from our farms, not the phantom farms.”

Stringent rules

According to the IFA, major retailers at the top of today’s food chain and a small number of large food service providers “currently hold inordinate power in Ireland’s food supply chain”.

“This power leads to an inequitable distortion of value being distributed down to primary producers of food.”

The IFA has also called for “stringent rules” around retail food price promotion.

“Where a retailer engages in any discounts on agri-food products as part of a promotion, the retailer shall, prior to a promotion, specify the period of the promotion and the expected quantity of the agricultural and food products to be ordered while the promotion is on,” Mr Cullinan said.

“Promotions must be clearly funded by retailers and not by suppliers.”

The farm organisation also called for the inclusion of a minimum dedicated shelf space of at least 30% for branded food products in shops.

“Premium branded food selling at a higher price to consumers will result in a greater price being passed down the food chain back to the farmer,” Mr Cullinan added.

“It is clear that where a retailer does not offer branded food to the consumer, the farmer will receive less.”

Damian McDonald, IFA director general, said that “one of the biggest issues” in terms of the “erosion of value right along the chain is the move towards private labels, branded labels, owned by supermarkets themselves”.

“We can’t end up in a scenario where supermarkets are filled only by their own brand produce,” Mr McDonald said.

“This is not just an Irish problem, it’s a global strategy by retailers to try and take more of the chain for themselves.”

He said there are branded products on shelves that “sit alongside the supplier’s own branded product which may be selling at a higher price”.

“In order to stay viable, the supplier has no option really other than to supply the product to fill the own brand order as well,” he added.

“It is an issue; it’s not easy to solve it, but we want to flag it clearly that this is where we’re going if we don’t do something about it.”

Logos to indicate Irish origin of produce

In addition, the IFA is seeking for Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue to give the new Office for Fairness and Transparency in the Agri-Food Supply Chain the power to ensure that all retailers of agri-food use only Government and agency-approved logos to indicate Irish origin of produce.

“The bill must include a prohibition of using the Irish tricolour flag and other self-created logos in the likeness of the Irish flag that may confuse the true provenance of products,” the IFA added.

The IFA made its calls during its attendance at the Oireachtas joint committee on agriculture, food and the marine this month.

This comes as France has moved to ban from October the use of meat names to market plant-based alternatives.

It is the first country in the EU to introduce such a ban.

Mr Cullinan has said that Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue’s bill which proposes to establish a new authority, to be known as the Office for Fairness and Transparency in the Agri-Food Supply Chain, “needs to specifically call out where the current power imbalance lies, and state that this is where the focus of the new office will be directed”.

The IFA is also seeking the addition of a ban on below-cost procurement of food and below-cost selling.

“There must be an additional UTP to prohibit the buying of food below the cost of production by food procurement managers in dominant positions,” Mr Cullinan said.

“This needs to be clearly directed towards the retailers and main wholesale food service providers.

“IFA proposes that independently published costs of production kept under regular review should be enshrined in the bill as a minimum price that buyers can pay producers and suppliers of food.

“While not solving all problems with this inclusion, it will go a long way to preventing the dominant buyer from pricing farmers out of production as has occurred in the horticulture sector for the past 20 years.”

He added that reinstating a ban on below-cost selling would “give stability to the current cohort of very vulnerable growers of Irish fruit and vegetables in particular”.

Meanwhile, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) said in its recent written submission to the committee that it is disappointed that the Government is opposed to a ban on below-cost selling.

“An unfair trading practice that has gained much notoriety within agricultural sectors is the use of products such as milk or vegetables as loss leaders for retailers to gain market,” the ICMSA said.

“Below-cost selling should have been included and should be outlawed and legislated as it strikes at the core of agricultural products and the viability of family farms.

“These products and others that are regularly on ‘special offer’ lead to consumers believing that the ‘offer’ is normal and conditions consumers into expecting these products at ongoing low unsustainable prices.”