The assertion that “90% of EU consumers are willing to pay more for food” was made in a virtual conference between Berlin and Brussels with politicians and agri-food representatives taking part.

It is clear that one of those issues is the ever declining share of the final price of food that goes back to the farmer

Organised by the same grouping that holds the enormous Forum for the Future of Agriculture every March in Brussels, the conference was abandoned this year but it still assembled an interesting group to discuss the burning issues of the day. It is clear that one of those issues is the ever declining share of the final price of food that goes back to the farmer. The German member of parliament who made the assertion, Gero Hocker, is a member of the Free Democrats and is an increasingly influential voice in a party recognised for a strong ethical base in social and economic policy.

Irish farmers are in danger of having the worst of all worlds, labelling with country of birth, rearing and slaughter is obligatory on all beef and lamb products

He spoke of the hypocrisy of Europe’s internal standards being undermined by feed imports produced to much lower standards than Europe’s and undermining the returns to EU farmers. This is a recurring theme in the new CAP Farm to Fork discussions but, so far, everybody is beating around the bush with a reluctance to face up to the most glaring issues. One of these is labelling.

Here, Irish farmers are in danger of having the worst of all worlds, labelling with country of birth, rearing and slaughter is obligatory on all beef and lamb products.

Most, but not all, of our main beef markets have instilled in their consumers a preference for home-produced product – we have lost ground in supermarket beef sales in Britain, France and Italy, despite the broad positive image that Ireland has as a food producer in these markets.

It’s the reverse, of course, in many other products where labelling can be damagingly, misleading or simply absent.

In my view, the greatest withholding of information is in the case of “own labelling“ where supermarkets can obliterate any reference to the producer or manufacturer

I have never seen on a pork chop “this pigmeat has been produced by GM soya grown on land previously under forest,” yet if the political assurances of wanting to get more money into EU farmers’ pockets are real, this is what a label could say and should be backed up with foreign trade policy.

In my view, the greatest withholding of information is in the case of “own labelling“ where supermarkets can obliterate any reference to the producer or manufacturer of the food and so continuously search for the lowest cost producer that is allowed regardless of quality, while it hides behind the badge of the supermarket.

We saw this graphically in the case of the horsemeat scandal but while there were some changes, the basic legislative framework continues unaltered.

Perhaps our German politician is correct in saying that EU consumers are willing to pay more for food but they won’t do it without new trade rules and a real change in the information that is conveyed to them.