Call for farmers to be excluded from Competition Act

THE Irish Farmers’ Association has called for farmers to be excluded from the Competition Act to allow them to negotiate prices with big supermarket chains.

Yesterday, IFA president Padraig Walshe said farmers should be included when the 2002 Act is amended this year to allow some self-employed groups to collectively negotiate prices. The amendment is necessitated by a government decision to allow doctors’ representative organisations to agree medical card fees.

Mr Walshe said: “Comparing the position of the individual farmer and the major retail multiple, it is obvious that the balance of power in the retail food chain is totally unequal.