In 1998 there were over 400 primary field scale growers in Ireland, now there are less than 60. I imagine if you went back a further 30 years, this number would double again.
There was a time when a potato or vegetable grower could deal directly with local supermarkets, this allowed local produce to be sold at local supermarkets. But since the advent of central distribution, the flow of produce has been restricted to only three or four large distributors that supply the supermarkets, putting a swift end to local supply chains.
Growers had little choice, either consolidate, increase production and compete or go out of business. But as the supermarket model of procurement was centralised their power increased and there was little power left in the hands of the farmer.
Farmers that scaled up to meet the demand, usually with very significant investment (you need tractors, sheds, washing facilities to grow vegetables in scale), were left at the mercy of unscrupulous supermarket buyers. When farmers were then faced with propositions from supermarkets to drop their prices or to fund promotions to reduce the price of their produce on supermarket shelves they had little choice but to do so.
On a smaller scale but not dissimilar to the bigger growers above, I remember distinctly our experience of dealing with supermarkets. We had spent several years building up business with certain supermarkets and we were selling well in several stores. Customers had gotten used to our shelf in the supermarket, but then bit by bit, own branded supermarket imported produce started to appear next to our produce.
One Monday morning as we called to get our usual order, an order we depended on, we were to discover that the rules of the game had changed. A new fresh food buyer was put in place, and he demanded that we reduce our prices, stock the shelves ourselves, and be responsible for any waste they incurred due to lack of sales of produce they had bought from us.
We never supplied that shop again or for that matter any of the other 12 supermarket stores we used to supply.
The supermarkets continue to put pressure on growers to fund their loss leaders’ campaigns, they expect farmers to shoulder part or all the burden of this cost.
But these cheap prices lead to the perception in the eyes of the consumer that freshly grow produce is of little value. Ironically this can inadvertently lead to food waste, nearly one third of all food produced is thrown in the bin, which in the end will cost us more. If we were to pay a little more for our food, maybe we wouldn’t waste so much and ironically actually be better off.
So, as it stands the supermarkets, the kings and gatekeeps of this seemingly inexhaustible and abundant supply of produce are more to blame for the decline of the Irish vegetable industry than anything else. The bottom line is always the bottom line, and if the farmers had a model that was financially viable, they would still be here, I guess we can safely say they did not.
as always thank you for your support.
Kenneth