ICSA president Patrick Kent has re-iterated his call for a review of all levies, statutory and non-statutory. “ICSA gets no levies whatsoever. Farmers are under severe income pressure and deductions from factory cheques add up to a considerable sum. Overall, we are talking about tens of millions of euros taken from farmers at a time when the farmer is the only one making nothing out of the agri-food sector.”
Mr Kent said that we need an immediate acceptance that all non-statutory levies should be on an opt-in basis only. “It is an interesting legal question whether taking levies without consent or on an opt-out only basis would stand up.”
“Regarding the statutory levies, we need a re-assessment of whether farmers should be liable for these costs. Why should farmers pay for marketing a product that they do not own? No other industry operates on this basis, so how come we are stuck with these bills? The reality is that farmers sell cattle and sheep and get paid as little as possible by factories. It may have been palatable back in the 1980s when the price of cattle and sheep meant that farmers were getting a fair share of the retail price but that day has long since passed.”
“ICSA wants all levies reviewed and the terms of reference must be to examine the justification, fairness and value for money of all such levies, in the context of all farming sectors struggling to maintain viability.”
