Three-quarters of primary producers have heard of the Agri-Food Regulator, but 59% of those aware of it know little or nothing about its role, a survey commissioned by the organisation has found.
Farmers, fishers and growers were surveyed, in what was the third annual survey carried out by the recently established organisation.
Conducted by Red C Research on behalf of the Agri-Food Regulator, the findings were released on Tuesday.
Findings
Of the 501 primary producers who completed the survey, one in four had never heard of the organisation, the results show.
However, awareness was significantly higher among dairy producers, with 86% saying they had heard of the Regulator.
In relation to unfair trading practices (UTP), 51% of respondents said they would be likely to make a complaint to the Regulator. This figure was up from 46% in 2025.
Some 62% of respondents understood the Regulator’s role in enforcing the rules on UTPs, with 49% aware of its market transparency remit.
The Regulator’s confidential complaints process regarding UTPs is less well-known, the research suggests, with only 33% of primary producers saying they were aware of this.
Website
Of the primary producers who said they were aware of the Regulator, only 9% had visited its website.
The Regulator’s website features interactive price and market data dashboards on seven sectors, including beef, dairy, sheep, egg & poultry, vegetable, fruit and horticulture.
Of the respondents who had used the sectoral dashboard reports, 71% said that their needs were met.
'Encouraging'
“As an organisation approaching its three-year milestone, it is encouraging to see a high level of awareness of the office,” said Niamh Lenehan, chief executive of the Agri-Food Regulator.
“It is especially reassuring that primary producers would be likely to make a complaint about an unfair trading practice, which demonstrates a high level of trust in the complaints process.”
“The objective of the dashboards is to help improve transparency by making disparate publicly available datasets easier to access and understand, so this positive feedback points to the practical value of this initiative.”
The Agri-Food Regulator is an independent statutory office established under the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Act 2023.
It is concerned with promoting fairness and transparency in the agri-food supply chain, and its statutory remit focuses on business-to-business relationships within the supply chain.
