Irish potato farmers are warning that supermarket shelves will go bare if they don't increase the prices. Of course, as inflation continues to take hold across the country, many are happy to see that the potato and other Irish-grown vegetables have escaped the rising costs. This is despite the fact that grocery inflation is running at more than 16%.
However, the farmers who produce these staple foods say they are unable to make a living as their bills have increased by tens of thousands of euro in the space of a year. This is why hundreds of potato farmers are downing tools permanently.
Seán Ryan, chair of the Irish Farmers' Association's Potato Committee, believes that supermarkets will struggle to stock Irish-grown produce if they continue to sell vegetables at "ridiculously low" prices. "Growers are very frustrated seeing all their hard work being sold for so little, which will ultimately come back and haunt the retailers," he said. "Potato farmers went from about 700 growers a decade ago to about 160 last year. So many agricultural workers leaving the industry will result in supermarkets having very little Irish produce on the shelves.”
Last week, Labour Party finance spokesman Ged Nash said the government needs to give the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission teeth to end what he called ‘greedflation’.
Source: businessplus.ie