6th November 2014

ICSA president Patrick Kent has said that reports that agri-food company Glanbia have allocated over €1 billion into Luxembourg based companies highlight the need for greater transparency on profitability in the retail chain. “Farmers are constantly being told to be more efficient and that there is no more available to pay them a fair price for their produce. Yet many farmers suspect that large scale meat, grain and dairy processors are making substantial profits and facilitating even greater profits further down the retail chain for supermarkets.

“At the same time, we have seen farmers struggling to break even in beef and tillage this year, and ominous signs for dairy prices next years. News that large scale companies such as Glanbia are able to allocate sums of €1 billion or more to off-shore companies will further add to frustration that farmers are not getting a fair share. It is very clear that food processors cannot be taken at face value when they say that markets will not return a better price to the primary producer.”

“It again highlights the need for regulation to shine a light on who gets what from the retail chain. We need transparency to see who makes profits and who adds what value to retail products which are based on meat, dairy and grain produced by Irish and other European farmers,” he concluded.