Almost 60% food producers don’t understand Agri-Food Regulator’s role, survey finds

Although the Agri-Food Regulator's survey showed an increase in awareness of the organisation, the understanding of its role and services remains unclear for some primary producers

Only 9% of respondents have visited the Agri-food Regulator's website.

A recent survey of food producers found that 59% of respondents were aware of the Agri-food Regulator but knew very little or nothing about its work.

So what does the regulator do?

The regulator ensures compliance with and enforces the unfair trading law and provides information on the agri-food supply chain through engagement with stakeholders and the analysis of price and market data.

The organisation aims to focus on promoting fairness and transparency in business-to-business relationships along the agri-food supply chain through active engagement with stakeholders, including primary producers, such as farmers and fishers, processors, distribution businesses and retailers, as well as representative bodies of the various sectors.

The survey also found that the regulator is recognised as an enforcement body of unfair trading practices rather than a source of market information, with 51% of respondents saying they were not aware of the regulator’s role in improving transparency through publishing analysis and market data.

Responses from primary producers to the survey found 75% reported awareness of the Agri-Food Regulator, which rose to 86% of dairy farmers aware of the organisation.

Just over half (51%) of respondents said they would be likely to make a complaint about a case of unfair trading practice to the regulator, which is up from 46% in 2025 last year.

Only one third (33%) of primary producers reported awareness of the regulator’s confidential complaints process regarding unfair trading practices.

Commenting on the survey, CEO of the Agri-Food Regulator, Niamh Lenehan, said: “As an organisation approaching its three-year milestone, it is encouraging to see a high level of awareness of the office.

“It is especially reassuring that primary producers would be likely to make a complaint about an unfair trading practice, which demonstrates a high level of trust in the complaints process.” 

Of the primary producers who said they were aware of the regulator, only 9% 33 of the 373 respondents, had visited its website.

From the pool of respondents who said they have visited the website and used the dashboard, 45% were within the dairy sector, 36% were in beef, sheep had 18%, while egg and poultry, and horticulture were 15% apiece, vegetable growers were 6%, and fruit growers were 3%.

The regulator’s website features interactive price and market data dashboards on seven sectors, including beef, dairy, sheep, egg and poultry, vegetable, fruit and horticulture. The majority (71%) of the respondents who had used the sectoral dashboard reports said their needs were met.

Ms Lenehan continued: “The objective of the dashboards is to help improve transparency by making disparate publicly available datasets easier to access and understand, so this positive feedback points to the practical value of this initiative.” 

Going forward, the regulator will aim to facilitate increased understanding by producers of the regulator’s functions, increasing visibility of producer rights, protections and supports, strengthening engagement through agricultural channels, and driving greater use of the regulator’s website, dashboards and resources.