Healy said the promotion is a further example of why farmers need political intervention at EU and national level to ensure they get a fair share of the consumer price.

“In this case, there isn’t even a consumer price to get a share of. It demonstrates the need for a clear ban on below-cost selling of food,” he said.

A race to the bottom

The president added that this sort of stunt is a race to the bottom: “Farmers have little or no market power and they will ultimately bear the brunt of this type of unethical price promotion. Farmers and consumers would expect SuperValu to show a higher standard of corporate responsibility in line with their ‘community retailer’ ethos.”

Workshop in Brussels

On Thursday this week Healy chaired a workshop in Brussels for the European Farmers Organisation on the recently published Agri Markets Taskforce report, which deals with initiatives to ensure that farmers get a fairer share of the consumer price for their products.

It is hard to believe we have the largest Irish retailer behaving like this

Healy said it is “hard to believe that as we are making significant progress at European level on restoring a fair margin for farmers, we have the largest Irish retailer behaving like this.

“Producers of fresh produce are furious that their work and investment counts for nothing in the eyes of SuperValu,” he added.

Healy said he would be seeking an urgent meeting with the supermarket chain to warn about the “grave consequences for Irish growers if retailers embark on a strategy of encouraging footfall by promoting quality food for free”.

This is only a short-term gain for the consumers

Speaking at the Irish Farmers Journal Global Trade Conference in Dublin this Friday, European Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan took a dim view on SuperValu's offer of giving away free vegetables to customers.

"We can't be in a position where farmers are put out business. If we don't have a producer then we won't have a product. This is only a short-term gain for the consumers," he said.

"We need to have farmers to be able to sustain a living for their production; otherwise we will have monopolies and a concentration in the market which is not good for the consumer in the medium and the long term."

Offer 'agreed with suppliers'

In a statement to the Irish Farmers Journal, SuperValu said that it was supporting the entire cost of the free vegetable offer. "The current promotional offer, designed as part of our ongoing effort to encourage consumers to cook with Irish produce, has been planned and agreed in consultation with our suppliers," the company said, adding that its annual purchases worth €2.19bn from 2,200 Irish agri-food suppliers were the largest in the Irish grocery retail market.

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Healy slams below-cost selling of veg in run-up to Christmas

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