IFA president Tim Cullinan has taken the reins of the Copa-Cogeca Working Party meeting on the food chain held in Brussels.

His election sees him take over from outgoing chair and previous IFA president Joe Healy, who he thanked for his contribution on behalf of all Irish and EU farmers.

Copa-Cogeca is the European umbrella body of farming organisations.

Cullinan highlighted the party’s instrumental role in advancing the EU Directive on Unfair Trading Practices (UTPs) in the food supply chain.

“This EU directive is now written into Irish law, similar to most EU member states. It aims to give greater protection against UTPs to suppliers of food and agricultural products dealing directly with retailers.

“It is of particular importance to producers of fresh, perishable products, such as fruit and vegetables, that directly interact with retailer buyers,” he said.

He called on the Irish Government to deliver on its commitment in the programme for Government and establish a National Food Ombudsman (NFO) office. Budget 2022 has allocated €4m to the establishment and running of this office.

The primary legislation required to set up the NFO needs to be brought forward and enacted, he said.

Investigative powers

“The recently established Unfair Trading Practices Enforcement Authority (EA) here in Ireland is an invisible body, and farmers and producers need to see its activity and investigative powers being used to ensure fairness in the supply chain,” said Cullinan.

“Below-cost selling and unsustainable discounting of food needs to be tackled both by the European Commission and here in Ireland by the Irish Government. The NFO/regulator needs to be given the power to tackle this unfair trading practice which makes farmers and producers unviable by forcing them to produce below the cost of production. This, I am committed to pursuing as chair of the COPA Food Chain Working Party,” he said.