Watch: Vegetable growers refuse to bear the expense of supermarket war
At a protest outside Aldi and Lidl in North Dublin today, vegetable growers demonstrated their disgust at below cost selling. Aldi said that farmers do not bear the costs of promotions sales.
We cannot accept a situation where prices are slashed in a competitive supermarket war that is not of our making” – IFA National chair Jer Bergin
Farmers protesting at Lidl and Aldi in Finglas on Monday were outraged at the price vegetables were being sold for in the German retailer’s stores. IFA National Chairman Jer Bergin accused the retailers of gross hypocrisy by slashing the price of fresh produce below the cost of production while claiming to support Irish growers.
The IFA target German retailers Lidl and Aldi for selling vegetables at discounted prices pic.twitter.com/WgDcGtrYuK
The message going out to retailers and government was clear:
To the retailers, “you’re not going to start a war at our expense, end of story. We are going to go after you, wherever you use our produce to undermine out produce without fear or without favour.”
To the government, “we’ve seen retail legislation passed that’s inadequate. What we are looking at today is a classic example of why the legislation does not work. It does not have a ban on below cost selling.”
Bergin also pointed out that in Germany, the home of retailers Lidl and Aldi, there is legislation to prevent below cost selling. He called for an ombudsman, similar to that in the UK, to be appointed to police the retail trade.
Slowly eroding margins
Tomato grower Matt Foley from North County Dublin said that while selling vegetable at low prices may be good value for the consumer it distorts the market.
“It is slowly eroding any margin we have,” said Foley, former chairman of the IFA vegetable committee. “Even last week we lost another vegetable grower. We have received tremendous support after coming out of the [general] election but this type of behaviour is unacceptable and the politicians haven’t done anything about it.”
Notably absent from the protest were vegetable growers who have direct contracts with retailers.
A spokesperson for Aldi told the Irish Farmers Journal that their ability to offer vegetables to customer at low prices is down to the relationships they have with suppliers, producers and farmers.
“We have forged relationships with 70 new Irish suppliers over the last five years and currently work with more than 175 Irish suppliers, helping to maintain over 34,000 jobs across the Irish food industry,” said the spokesperson. “Over 50% of our supplier spend is spent with Irish suppliers, producers and manufacturers.”
Aldi said that their regular ‘super 6’ promotion is to encourage regular consumption of vegetables but this was one of the key sticking points for IFA members at the protest. White cabbage within the promotion were sold for 29c/head.
But the retailer said that “Aldi bears the cost of this promotion at all times, and not the farmers or growers.”
In a statement to the Irish Farmers Journal, a Lidl spokesperson also maintained that in-store promotions do not impact the price paid to suppliers for produce.
Lidl said it sources €300m worth of produce from 150 suppliers in Ireland annually within the company’s Code of Conduct for suppliers.
“This approach has enabled Lidl to deliver top quality products for its customers at the most competitive prices,” they said.
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We cannot accept a situation where prices are slashed in a competitive supermarket war that is not of our making” – IFA National chair Jer Bergin
Farmers protesting at Lidl and Aldi in Finglas on Monday were outraged at the price vegetables were being sold for in the German retailer’s stores. IFA National Chairman Jer Bergin accused the retailers of gross hypocrisy by slashing the price of fresh produce below the cost of production while claiming to support Irish growers.
The IFA target German retailers Lidl and Aldi for selling vegetables at discounted prices pic.twitter.com/WgDcGtrYuK
The message going out to retailers and government was clear:
To the retailers, “you’re not going to start a war at our expense, end of story. We are going to go after you, wherever you use our produce to undermine out produce without fear or without favour.”
To the government, “we’ve seen retail legislation passed that’s inadequate. What we are looking at today is a classic example of why the legislation does not work. It does not have a ban on below cost selling.”
Bergin also pointed out that in Germany, the home of retailers Lidl and Aldi, there is legislation to prevent below cost selling. He called for an ombudsman, similar to that in the UK, to be appointed to police the retail trade.
Slowly eroding margins
Tomato grower Matt Foley from North County Dublin said that while selling vegetable at low prices may be good value for the consumer it distorts the market.
“It is slowly eroding any margin we have,” said Foley, former chairman of the IFA vegetable committee. “Even last week we lost another vegetable grower. We have received tremendous support after coming out of the [general] election but this type of behaviour is unacceptable and the politicians haven’t done anything about it.”
Notably absent from the protest were vegetable growers who have direct contracts with retailers.
A spokesperson for Aldi told the Irish Farmers Journal that their ability to offer vegetables to customer at low prices is down to the relationships they have with suppliers, producers and farmers.
“We have forged relationships with 70 new Irish suppliers over the last five years and currently work with more than 175 Irish suppliers, helping to maintain over 34,000 jobs across the Irish food industry,” said the spokesperson. “Over 50% of our supplier spend is spent with Irish suppliers, producers and manufacturers.”
Aldi said that their regular ‘super 6’ promotion is to encourage regular consumption of vegetables but this was one of the key sticking points for IFA members at the protest. White cabbage within the promotion were sold for 29c/head.
But the retailer said that “Aldi bears the cost of this promotion at all times, and not the farmers or growers.”
In a statement to the Irish Farmers Journal, a Lidl spokesperson also maintained that in-store promotions do not impact the price paid to suppliers for produce.
Lidl said it sources €300m worth of produce from 150 suppliers in Ireland annually within the company’s Code of Conduct for suppliers.
“This approach has enabled Lidl to deliver top quality products for its customers at the most competitive prices,” they said.
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